!U>'?Mi£ltiirUliJi'!jnfH :!!!':!' 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 
ANDTHEIRLOWCOST 

or 

ECONOMY IN LIVING 







Class,/ " 

Book_=^ 

Gopyiiglit}^^- 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT, 



WHOLE EGG 



WHITE AND YOLK 




WATER: 
73.7 



[PROTE/M: 
14.6 




WATER 
86.2 



mER; 
4-9.5 

■PfiOTEINh 
16.1 

^FAr:33.3 
^ASH:1.I 



(PR0TE7MJ3.0 
EAT: 0.3 



FAT: 10.5 

ASH:10~.^^ ASN.O.e 

FUEL VALUE: FUELVALUE: 

695 CAL OaiESPER POUND YOLK 1650, WHITE 245 

CALORIES PER POUND 



CREAM CHEESE 



COTTAGE CHEESE 




WATER: 
34.2 



^PROTEIN: 
25.9 



^FAT:33.7 

JARBOHT- 
DRATES:2 4 



'-ASH: 3.8 




WATER: 
72.0 



W- PROTEIN: 
20.9 

'^FAT:10 
ACARBOUr- 
DRATES:4.3 



FUEL VALUE: 
1885 CALORIES PER LB. 



ASH:L8 



FUEL VALLTE: 
495 CALORIES PER LB. 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 

AND 

THEIR LOW COSTS 



BY ^ 
WILLIAM S. BIRGE, M.D. 

Author of ''My Lady's Handbook.'' 




NEW YORK 
SULLY AND KLEINTEICH 



TXs5\ 

,365 



Copyright, 1916 
By sully and KLEINTEICH 



All Rights Reserved 




SEP 151916 

©CI.A437691 



PREFACE 

In presenting this little book to the public I have 
no excuse to offer. "There is no new thing 
under the sun." My only object is to give, in a 
clear and practical way, such information as may 
enable the ordinary individual to simplify the art 
of living and get his money's worth. 

It is not a cookbook in any sense of the word, 
and the few tested recipes that are given are not 
original with the author, but have been tried in 
his family and not found wanting. 

w. s. B. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Tissue-builders. Fuel Pro- 
ducers. Food Values . . i 
11. The Proper Proportion of Food 7 

III. The Energy Value of Meat . . 15 

IV. Diet and Health 21 

V. Nearly Half a Man's Wages 

Goes for Food 25 

VI. "Predigested" and "Malted" 

Breakfast Foods .... 29 

VII. Eggs • • 35 

VIII. False Economy 42 

IX. Shall We Eat Meat? ... 46 
X. Food Experts. What Doctors 

Do Not Know 50 

XL Olive Oil, the Purest Food 

Known 54 

XII. Vagaries 56 

XIII. Easy Ways to Prevent Waste 59 

XIV. Why Folks Grow Fat ... 63 
XV. Useful Hints 66 

XVI. Flour. Yeast. Bread ... 73 

XVII. Something about Breads . . 81 

XVIII. Fish 91 

XIX. Salads 98 

XX. A Word about Potatoes. About 

Spinach. About Cabbage . 104 
XXI. A Word about Tomatoes . . .115 



VI 

CHAPTER 

XXII. 
XXIII. 

XXIV. 

XXV. 

XXVI. 

XXVII. 

XXVIII. 



XXIX. 

XXX. 

XXXI. 

XXXII 

XXXIII. 

XXXIV. 

XXXV. 

XXXVI. 
XXXVII. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Sweet Peppers 120 

Macaroni, Spaghetti, Vermi- 
celli 123 

The Use of Sour Milk . . . 126 
Coffee as a Beverage . . . .129 

Tea 132 

The One-course Dinner . . . 135 
How TO Stew Meat. More One- 
course Meals : — Getting 
Your Money's Worth . .142 
A Few Satisfying Drinks, 

Thirst-quenchers . . .155 
Hints for Breakfast . . . .161 

Prunes 164 

A Word about Chocolate . . 169 
Diet in Constipation. In Dys- 
pepsia 174 

Skill in the Preparation of 

Food 178 

Tested Recipes for Cake . . . 190 

Desserts 199 

How Food Frauds may be Frus- 
trated 205 



CHAPTER I 

Tissue-builders. Fuel-producers. Food 
Values 

A man can regulate his health and strength 
and capacity to work, under ordinary circum- 
stances, by giving proper attention to his diet. 
Every person, therefore, should be interested, if 
not concerned, in the questions, what to eat and 
how. As to the latter problem, how to eat, Mr. 
Horace Fletcher and others have done much 
valuable work in calling the attention of the laity 
to the necessity of thorough mastication and 
what it does in preparing food for further diges- 
tion. To give time to the chewing and grinding 
up of foods before swallowing them is a good 
investment for better health. "Fletcherism" also 
emphasizes the importance of encouraging the 
sense of taste. If allowed to choose freely with- 
out restriction, it will tend to be a guide in the 
selection of those foods which are most needed. 

We all know how the freshness and attractive 
appearance of food affect the appetite and the 
power to digest. What the eye sees, the ear 



2 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

hears, and the nose smells, all have an influence, 
either direct or indirect, on the digestion. 

The value of food depends on what it can fur- 
nish in material that builds up the body, and 
material that keeps the body going. It is neces- 
sary, then, to know something of the fundamen- 
tal elements of food. These are of two kinds, 
tissue-builders and fuel-producers. The princi- 
pal chemical elements of food are starch or sugar 
— which may be classed as carbohydrates — fats, 
water, proteids, or nitrogenous elements, and 
ash, or mineral constituents. The nitrogenous 
and mineral elements and water go into tissue- 
building. Fats, starches, and sugar furnish the 
great amount of fuel necessary to keep the body 
going. Acids and salts can hardly be said to 
belong to either of these classes, but they flavor 
food, stimulate the power of digestion, and aid 
absorption. 

These elements are found in widely varying 
proportions in the numberless cells that enter into 
the structure of the body. Of the solids we should 
look upon bone as largely mineral, and soft 
tissues as largely nitrogenous. Water percolates 
into all the cells and tissues of the body. The 
body tissues without water might be comparea 
to a sponge before being soaked. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 3 

The young and growing child requires more 
of the building material than does the adult. In 
the latter new structure does not have to be 
formed, only as it is necessary to replace what is 
used up, or consumed, in the wear and tear of 
life. Consequently, the demand for nitrogencnis 
elements and minerals is less, in proportion to 
the size of the body, in age than in youth. 

Professor Graham Lusk makes the following 
statement in his lecture on "The Fundamental 
Basis of Nutrition:" 

"Since the efficiency of labor depends upon energy and 
constant repair of the body, it is certainly of no small 
moment that the citizen should know how best to maintain 
the machine at a maximum of efficiency. Not only that, 
but in time of trouble he should know where to turn to 
find nourishment in the form which is best and cheapest. 

"Who will give him this information? Will the manufac- 
turer of canned tomatoes tell him that tomatoes are 
valueless in his extremity? No, not unless the manufac- 
turer is forced to do so. And how can the manufacturer 
be forced to give this information? By being compelled 

by law to label his can, "This contains calories, of 

which per cent are in proteins of Grade C." 

In the American home there does not exist 
any rational basis for the family diet. This is 
owing principally to the meager knowledge of 
the comparative nutritive value of various kinds 
of food. 

The tempting and bewildering variety of food 



4 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

offered to the man of the present day demands 
an insight and knowledge that will enable him 
to choose so as to increase and not to lower his 
physical efficiency. The human body must be 
considered as a perfect machine, using food as 
its fuel to generate power. The food is meas- 
ured in terms of fuel value, the heat unit being 
called a calorie. The amount required varies 
from two thousand to three thousand five hun- 
dred calories, depending upon age, occupation, 
and sex. The protein element must be supplied 
to the body, without which it cannot thrive. A 
family of the average mechanic or workingman, 
wife, and three children under sixteen years of 
age, requires twelve thousand calories. Twelve 
hundred to eighteen hundred calories should be 
of protein, that is, from ten to fifteen per cent, 
of the total required. 

In a total of one hundred calories, a whole 
tgg contains thirty-six protein calories, a slice 
of bread weighing one and four-tenths ounces, 
fourteen protein calories; a lamb chop weighing 
one and four-tenth ounces, twenty-three protein 
calories ; and lentils weighing one ounce, twenty- 
nine protein calories. 

The necessary number of calories is fortunately 
contained in our daily supply of food — in the albu- 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 5 

men of the egg, the casein of milk, the myosin 
of meat, the gluten of wheat, the legumin of peas, 
beans, and lentils — so the body is not neglected. 

Upon the amount of energy our body can give 
us as a machine depends its usefulness and our 
efficiency. A question of economic value now 
arises when we consider the price of the material 
supplied. 

The protein is the most valuable as well as the 
most expensive part of our food supply. It is 
therefore well to have a list of foods, so that 
where possible we can substitute the less for the 
more expensive. 

The housewife should know the cost of foods, 
realize what food value she is receiving for her 
money spent, and appreciate the fact that, strange 
as it may seem, the millionaire's dinner and the 
beggar's lunch may contain the same few, sim- 
ple elements of nutrition. 

She should also realize that the art of cooking 
can transform the common but nutritious foods 
into the most appetizing dishes. 

To provide for a family of five protein of 
which five per cent, is animal and ten per cent, 
vegetable, such as bread. Professor Lusk gives 
a table with the cost as follows : 



6 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

10 PER CENT. 5 PER CENT. CENTS 

Bread and ^ Ih. salt cod 47 

Bread and ^/i lb. smoked ham 48 

Bread and Ys lb. cheese 51 

Bread and 2^ lbs. milk 53 

Bread and 1% lbs. loin pork 56 

Bread and l^s lbs. leg of mutton 56 

Bread and 1^4 lbs. cod steak, fresh 58 

Bread and V/s lbs. sirloin beef 66 

Bread and VA lbs. turkey 78 

In considering the cost, which has become a 
necessity to the person of limited income, in rela- 
tion to the nutritive value of food, the question 
of waste is an important factor. The Depart- 
ment of Agriculture has estimated the food 
waste as high as twenty per cent, in most Ameri- 
can homes. The causes are: The purchase of 
expensive materiar providing little nutrition, the 
amount of food thrown away or poorly prepared, 
the selecting of food out of season, and poorly 
constructed ovens. 

By checking this waste, the purchasing power 
of a person's income would be increased, and 
a corresponding degree of efficiency obtained. 



CHAPTER II 
The Proper Proportion of Food 

The different kinds of food — water, salts, 
sugar, starch, fat, and albumen — must be com- 
bined in our diet to form a nutritious whole, A 
substance which fulfills but one of the purposes 
required in our food will not support life. A 
man cannot live on water or salt, yet he would 
soon die without them. A diet composed exclu- 
sively of fats, starch, or sugar is equally incap- 
able of supporting life. The albuminous foods, 
although they are considered the most nutritious, 
must be combined with the others to produce 
the desired result. 

The only substance prepared by nature ex- 
pressly as an article of food is milk. This when 
analyzed is found to contain water, salt, fat, 
sugar, and casein — the five elements of food. It 
has enough of the flesh-producing elements to 
restore the daily waste, and enough heat-giving 
elements to feed the oxygen in breathing. 

Eggs also contain all the necessary elements. 
A diet of seven eggs a day will furnish all the 



8 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

nutrition a person needs ; but the elements In eggs 
are too highly condensed, and consequently are 
not properly proportioned for a continuous diet. 

It is very important to proportion our food 
so that one kind will supply what another lacks. 
A certain bulk is also necessary in our food to 
produce a thorough action of the digestive fluids. 
If the quantity of food taken is not sufficient to 
distend the stomach, the churning motion of the 
muscular coats cannot affect every part of the 
food. Indigestion is often caused by lack of 
sufficient quantity of food, and by weakness of 
the muscles of the stomach. A certain quantity 
of innutritions food may be required to furnish 
the necessary bulk and in this way give all parts 
of the digestive apparatus their proper work to 
perform. 

Many persons argue in favor of a strictly vege- 
table diet, as we can obtain all the necessary 
elements in vegetables ; others claim to thrive best 
on a diet almost wholly of animal food. As a 
rule we find the highest degree of bodily and 
mental vigor among those who make use of a 
mixed diet. Nature seems to have arranged this 
to her own satisfaction, as shown in the 
physiological arrangement of the teeth and the 
alimentary canal. Part of the teeth are of the 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 9 

carnivorous, or flesh-eating, kind, and part of 
the herbivorous, or vegetable-eating, kind. The 
aHmentary canal is likewise equally well adapted 
to the digestion of both animal and vegetable 
foods, or of an admixture of both. The proper 
proportion, by weight, may be estimated as one- 
third animal and two-thirds vegetable food. 

Nature has furnished us with an unerring 
guide in the form of an unperverted appetite, to 
aid us in the proper selection of our diet, and it 
may generally be trusted to indicate the proper 
food necessary to the preservation of health. 

The call of Nature, however, is often un- 
heeded, and we find it necessary to exercise intel- 
ligence in selecting our food and adapting it in 
such a way as to counteract the effects of a viola- 
tion of Nature's laws. 

It costs a lot to live these days, more than in days 

of yore; 
But when we come to think of it, it's worth a great 

deal more. 

In these days people talk a great deal about 
the high cost of living. One of the principal 
reasons for a cost of living higher than in the 
past is the higher standard of living; that is, we 
eat better food, wear better clothes, and so on. 

If we were to select a set of rules for scientific 
meal-planning, the most important one would be 



10 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

founded upon the fact that we must find in our 
food the necessary substances for the repairing 
of our bodies, and for the production of the 
energy through which work is performed. Food 
substances, from this standpoint, are divided 
into: 

1. Protein, which builds and repairs tissue. 

2. Fat, which yields heat and energy. 

3. Carbohydrates, whicfi yield heat and en- 
ergy, also. 

4. Mineral water and ash, which aid diges- 
tion and build bone. 

5. Water, which aids all other food principles 
in their work to maintain the body. 

Protein is the most necessary of these sub- 
stances, and the most complicated. It is called 
by a different name in almost every food in 
which it is found. It is called albumen in eggs, 
casein in milk, and gluten in wheat. 

Chemical analysis tells us that the ^gg con- 
tains practically the same constituents as corn 
or wheat, but has a larger per cent, of protein. 
The only vital food distinction between a bushel 
of wheat and a bushel of eggs is that the eggs 
are more palatable and nutritious. Professor 
Sherman, of Columbia University, calls attention 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS ii 

to the fact that lime starvation is becoming very 
common among the people of the United States. 
This is owing to their use of fine flour bread, 
which contains only one gram of lime to the 
pound, while whole-wheat bread contains four 
times as much. Lime is an important nutritive 
element, and is just as necessary as are carbohy- 
drates, fats, and proteins. 

Milk is considered as near a perfect food as 
we have. That is why infants thrive on it. It is 
not by itself strong enough food for an adult, 
as it contains too much water and not enough 
solid matter. It may be considered the best 
source of lime we have. The per cent, composi- 
tion of milk is : 

PER CENT. 

Mineral matter 7 

Protein 3.Z 

Fat 4. 

Carbohydrates 5. 

Water 87. 

Total 100 

One pint of milk weighs one pound; two 
glasses contain practically two hundred calories 
of food value. It is called a perfect food because 
it contains all the principals. 

The following is a list of food principals and 
some common foods under each : 



12 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 



PROTEIN 


CARBOHYDRATES 


/Lean meat 
^ Fish 


Flour^ 


Sugar^ 


Eggs 


Starch 


Cheese 


Macaroni 


Dried peas 


Crackers 


Navy beans 


Rolled oats ^ 


Cottage cheese 


Bread ^ 


Sardines 


Cocoa 


Lobsters 


Potatoes V 


Walnuts 


Almonds 


\ Dried beef 
/^Peanuts 


Peas ^ 


Beans*>f 


Fat 


Cod fish ^ 


Lard 


Corned beef 


> Butter 
^90live oil 
/ Cottolene 


Lean ham y/ 


Bacon V 


Currants 


Bacon 


Prunes ^ 


Almonds 


Chocolate 


Chops 


Oat meal ^ ^ 
Dried beans 


>0 lives 


Gelatine 




Peaches 



The mistake is often made of serving foods 
containing the same value at the same meal. 

In serving fats, do not use too rich desserts. 

In serving lean meats, blend richer foods. 

In serving pork, 'use acid fruits, such as apples. 

Vegetables, such as beets, cabbage, and cauli- 
flower, may be used with potatoes. 

In serving pork, one starchy vegetable is suffi- 
cient. 

The cheapest and best food is that which fur- 
nishes the largest amount of nutriment at the 
l^ast cost. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 13 

Milk should enter largely into the diet of chil- 
dren. It contains casein, or flesh-forming mate- 
rial ; cream and sugar, which are heat-producers ; 
mineral salts, for the bony structure; and water, 
as a solvent for all the other materials necessary 
in nutrition. It should be used with discretion, 
however; not drunk immoderately, but taken 
slowly as food, after the pattern given by Nature. 
Milk, when taken, is a fluid; but as soon as it 
meets the acid of the gastric juice it is changed to 
a soft, curdy, cHeeselike substance, and then must 
be digested, and the stomach is overtasked if too 
much is taken at once. A large glass of milk 
swallowed suddenly will form in the stomach a 
lump of dense, cheesy curd, which might even 
prove fatal to a weak stomach. Under the action 
of the stomach this cheesy mass will turn over 
and over like a heavy weight ; and as the gastric 
juice can attack only its surface, it digests very 
slowly. This same milk, however, taken slowly 
or with dry toast, light rolls, or soft, dry por- 
ridge, forms a porous lump, through which the 
gastric juice can easily pass and which breaks up 
as the stomach turns it over. Milk should be 
slightly salted, and eaten with bread-stuffs or 
sipped by the spoonful. 



14 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Milk and Eggs 

Milk, eggs, and whole wheat are perhaps the 
three most essential foods that we have. It is 
on milk that the human race makes its greatest 
growth. The fuel value of one pound of milk 
(about a pint) is three hundred and fourteen 
calories, while one pound of eggs (about eight in 
number) would give six hundred and seventy- 
two calories. The milk would contain fifteen 
grams of protein, the eggs sixty-one grams; the 
milk eighteen grams of fat, and the eggs forty- 
seven and six-tenths grams ; the milk twenty-two 
and seven-tenths of carbohydrates, and the eggs 
none. The eggs are, to speak plainly, a more 
concentrated food, as milk is about eighty-five 
per cent, water. On the other hand, much larger 
quantities of milk can be taken. In comparing 
food values all things must be considered, for 
bare figures alone are apt to be misleading. With 
these facts in mind, it may be said that, weight 
for weight, the actual food value of the eggs is 
a little over twice that of milk. 

The food value of two slices of wheat bread, 
three eggs (boiled or fried), an ounce of butter, 
a pint of milk, is sufficient to furnish an ample 
breakfast for a laboring man. A pint of coffee 
may be used to supplant the milk if preferred. 



CHAPTER III 
The Energy Value of Meat 

"Meat is the muscle of some part of the ani- 
mal," says Samuel Schmucker Sadtler, in his 
book, "Chemistry of Familiar Things." 

"The muscles consist of bundles of microscopic tubes 
bound _ together with connective tissue, called collagen, 
and this includes more or less fat. 

"When carving at the table meat should be cut across the 
grain in as thin slices as possible, not to give people slim 
helpings, but to cut the microscopic tubes into many sec- 
tions so the gastric juice can attack them with as much 
exposed surface as possible." 

If the tubes have not been cut into slices in 
carving, they will take much longer to digest. 

Meat is more easily digested when it is lightly 
cooked, as it is soft and more easily acted upon 
by the gastric juice. 

The nourishing power of food is measured in 
calories, and from three thousand five hundred 
to three thousand seven hundred calories of 
energy per day are required by most people. 

The following table showing the nourishing 
values of meat was prepared by Professor C. F. 
Langworthy, United States Government expert: 



i6 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Fresh Beef 

CALORIES 
PER 
VARIETY POUND 

Beefsteak 1090 

Brisket 1495 

Chuck, including shoulder 1005 

Chuck rib 920 

Flank 1255 

Loin 1155 

Loin, sirloin butt 1115 

Loin, porterhouse 1110 

Loin, sirloin steak 1 130 

Neck 920 

Plate 1450 

Ribs 1370 

Rib, rolls. 1015 

Rib, trimmings 1015 

Ribs, cross 1305 

Round 835 

Rump 1325 

Shank, fore 1285 

Shank, hind 770 

Shoulder and clod 1075 

Forequarter 1 135 

Hindquarter 1130 

Si&es 1145 

Soup stock 170 

Beef Organs 

Brain 555 

Heart 1160 

Kidney 520 

Beef liver 605 

Lungs 440 

Marrow 3955 

Sweetbreads 825 

Suet 3540 

Tongue 740 

Scraps 2580 

Roast 1620 

Pressed 1610 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 17 

Round steak 840 

Sirloin steak 875 

Loin steak 1300 

Beef, Corned and Pickled 

Brisket 1385 

Flank 1665 

Plate , 2025 

Rump 1270 

Corned beef 1395 

Spiced beef 2390 

Tongues 1030 

Tripe 270 

Veal, Fresh 

Breast 840 

Chuck 610 

Flank 910 

Leg 670 

Leg, cutlets 705 

Loin 790 

Loin, with kidney 770 

Neck 670 

Rib 775 

Rump 1050 

Shank, fore 605 

Shank, hind 615 

Shoulder 580 

Shoulder and flank 975 

Forequarter 710 

Hindquarter 735 

Side, with kidney 715 

Veal Organs 

Heart 720 

Kidneys 585 

Liver 575 

Lungs 530 

Lamb, Fresh 

Lamb chop 1475 

Breast or chuck 1350 



i8 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Hind leg 1300 

Loin, without kidney and tallow 1540 

Neck 1375 

Shoulder 1590 

Forequarter 1430 

Hindquarter 1 170 

Side, without tallow 1300 

Lamb, Cooked 

Chops, broiled 1665 

Leg, roasted 900 

Lamb, Canned 
Tongue, spiced and cooked 1010 

Mutton, Fresh 

Chuck 2715 

Flank 2065 

Leg, hind 1085 

Loin, without kidney or tallow 1815 

Neck 1420 

Shoulder 1245 

Forequarter 1595 

Hindquarter 1495 

Side, including tallow 1520 

Side, not including tallow 1560 

Mutton, Cooked 
Mutton, leg roast 1420 

Mutton, Organs 

Heart 845 

Kidneys 440 

Liver 905 

Lungs 495 

Mutton, Canned 

Corned 150O 

Tongue 1465 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 19 

Pork, Fresh 

Pork chop 1535 

Chuck ribs and shoulder 1635 

Flank 1065 

Ham, fresh 1700 

Head 1990 

Headcheese 1790 

Loin chop 1655 

Loin, tenderloin 900 

Middle cuts 1825 

Shoulder 1690 

Side, lard and fat included 2780 

Side, not including lard, etc 2505 

Clear backs 2970 

Government statistics show that the average 
income of the average American family is $15.90 
a week, or $827.19 a year, each family consisting 
of five persons. This means an income of $2.27 
a day, inclusive of Sundays and holidays. 

These data were obtained from two thousand 
five hundred and sixty-seven families, comprised 
of thirteen thousand six hundred and forty-three 
persons, selected from different parts of the 
United States. The average expenditure of a 
family for all purposes was $768.54, leaving a 
surplus of $58.65. 

The average amount expended in one year is 
as follows: Food, $326.90; rent, $117.41; fuel 
and light, $40.38; clothing, $107.84; insurance, 
$20.97; furniture and utensils, $26.31; periodi- 
cals, $8.35; amusements, $12.28; sickness and 



20 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

death, $20.54; church, lodge, and other dues, 
$19.06; liquors and tobacco, $23.37; niiscella- 
neous, $45.13- 

Bureau of Labor statistics placed average of 
one hundred per cent, in 19 13 (price of foods- 
stuffs) for eight years, as follows: 

1907 81.9 

1908 84.2 

1909 88.6 

1910 92.9 

1911 91.9 

1912 97.4 

1913 100. 

1914 102. 

Smoked Ham 
The hind legs of a pig, when salted and 
smoked, are called ham. We broil, fry, roast, 
boil, and bake ham. The edible portion of ham 
is forty and three-tenths per cent, water; thirty- 
eight and eight-tenths per cent, fat, and sixteen 
and one-tenth per cent, protein. Smoked ham 
furnishes one thousand eight hundred and sev- 
enty-five calories of energy per pound. 

Dried Beef 
Dried beef, eaten with eggs or creamed, is a 
tasty dish. It is fifty-four and three-tenths per 
cent, water; thirty per cent, protein, and six and 
six-tenths per cent. fat. Dried beef has little 
nutritive value. It supplies only eight hundred 
and ten calories of energy per pound. 



CHAPTER IV 
Diet and Health 

Physiology teaches us that food is that sub- 
stance which, when properly introduced into the 
body, builds tissue, restores waste, and furnishes 
heat. These are the three principal functions of 
food, which should be performed. The second- 
ary function of food, however, that of social 
enjoyment, should not be neglected. 

A table that is attractive in appearance and 
congenial companions serve to render more 
effective the primary purposes of food. 

Food may be divided into four classes : 

1. Nitrogenous foods, or proteins, which 
nourish the muscles, brain, nerves, and tendons, 
and furnish some heat. 

2. Starchy foods and sugars, commonly called 
carbohydrates, which nourish the fatty tissues, 
and furnish heat. 

3. Fat foods (oils), which take but little part 
in tissue-building, but are fundamentally heat- 
producers. 

4. Mineral foods — sodium chloride, or com- 



22 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

mon salt, lime, phosphorus, iron, etc. — which 
are particularly useful in nourishing the bones 
and teeth, aid digestion, and are necessary in the 
translations of the fluids in the body. 

Calorie is a term used to designate the quan- 
tity of heat afforded by a food product during 
the process of digestion. The unit of measure 
is one gram of water (fifteen grains) ; the unit 
of temperature is one degree centigrade (one 
and eight-tenths Fahrenheit). A calorie, there- 
fore, measures the quantity of heat which will 
raise the temperature of one gram of water one 
degree centigrade. 

When a food is completely burned in the body, 
the same number of calories is produced as if it 
were burned in a calorimeter. It will be seen 
that fat burned in the body produces the same 
number of calories as fat that is burned outside 
the body in a calorimeter. The same may be 
said of sugar and starch. 

It may well be said that food is the fuel of the 
human system, and that man is made up of the 
sum total of what he eats. 

What food is and its true purpose is a study 
well worth while, for health efficiency and length 
of life depend on the food you eat. 

How important, then, it is to select, combine, 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 23 

and proportion your food according to occupa- 
tion and the season of the year. 

There has lately been established in the Health 
Department Building, in New York, a restaurant 
which makes a study of food in relation to 
efficiency. 

The bill of fare furnishes more information 
about the relation of diet to health than was ever 
before packed into so small a space. Every day 
there is a liberal supply of dishes, ready cooked, 
with the amount of nutrition in each described; 
that is, how much protein they contain, how 
much fat, and how many carbohydrates. The 
little menu card also tells the customer how many 
calories a day he needs. 

Another interesting feature of the menu, 
besides the names of the dishes that are ready, 
are two different luncheons, each furnishing the 
same food value, but differing from each other 
in price. 

The following, for example, is the list fur- 
nished for one day : 

Low-cost Luncheon, Balanced Ration 

CALO- PROTEIN 
PRICE QUANTITY RIES GRAMS 

Tomato soup 5c. I/2 pint 150 3.00 

Macaroni, baked with 
cheese 5c. 3 heaping ta- 
blespoons 350 16.5 



24 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

CALO- PROTEIN 
PRICE QUANTITY RIES GRAMS 

Ice cream 5c. 2 heaping ta- 
blespoons 270 6.0 
Whole-wheat bread 2 slices 140 5.5 

with butter Vz ounce 110 

15c. 1020 31.0 

High-cost Luncheon, Balanced Ration 

Tomato soup 5c. ^ pint 130 3.0 

Potted roast 20c. 3>S ounces 250 20.0 

Creamed s p in a c h 

with egg 5c. 2 heaping ta- 
blespoons 55 2.0 

Gingerbread 4c. 2 ounces 220 3.5 

Coffee 4c. 1 cup 

Whole-wheat bread 2 slices 140 5.5 

with butter Yz ounce 110 

38c. 905 34.0 

It is a difficult matter to make people eat 
according to a set rule, particularly if the food 
does not happen to be just what the individual 
may wish for at the time; but introducing the 
element of cost, together with the actual effi- 
ciency of each article on the bill of fare, cannot 
help but create a favorable impression. 

The wise choice of food in relation to health 
can hardly fail to interest the ordinary man, and 
when it is shown, in black and white, with mathe- 
matical precision, how such a choice will reduce 
the cost of living, we are more than likely to 
find ourselves looking on it with favor, 



CHAPTER V 
Nearly Half a Man's Wages Goes for Food 

According to recent investigations by the 
United States Bureau of Labor more than forty 
per cent, of the income of the average working- 
man's family is expended for food. 

The claim is made after inquiry into the con- 
ditions prevailing in two thousand seven hun- 
dred families in twenty-four different States. 

The mere fact that the average workingman 
spends so much of his income in such a manner, 
when he could get the same amount of nourish- 
ment, or even more, at a much lower cost, is 
pitiful and appalling. Another fact brought for- 
ward in the investigation referred to is that the 
more intelligent and well-to-do the housekeepers 
are, the more economical they are in the purchase 
of food supplies. Many a mechanic's wife in- 
sists upon having the best sirloin steak, while the 
wife of a man who has many times the income 
of the mechanic may be satisfied with the cheaper 
cuts. 

It is a singular fact, especially pertaining to 



26 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

meats of all kinds, that the price per pound has 
little, if any, relation to the nutritive value. A 
pound of steak costing fifty cents contains no more 
nutritive elements than a pound of a cheaper cut 
costing half the amount ; and if the latter is intel- 
ligently cooked, it will be quite as appetizing and 
equally effective. 

The report also shows that the average Ameri- 
can mechanic is a great meat consumer, perhaps 
too great a one, and this may account for the 
large percentage of income expended for food. 
With the American mechanic alive to the evils 
of a too-much-meat diet and the economical 
methods of preparing the tasty and edible cere- 
als, vegetables, and lentils, the percentage of 
income expended for food may be greatly re- 
duced, also the percentage now spent on physi- 
cians' and drug bills, and a corresponding in- 
crease in health and longevity result. 

Not long ago experiments were made by the 
Boston Science School along the line of cheap 
living. From these investigations it was shown 
that it was possible to live comfortably, if not 
luxuriously, on sixty-seven cents a day. Meals 
were prepared for twenty-two cents, and, what is 
more to the point, eaten with apparent relish 
by unbiased persons. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 27 

In addition, the chemical constituents in the 
food were carefully weighed and measured, and 
it was found that a sufficient amount of proteids, 
fats, and carbohydrates existed in the twenty- 
two-cent meal to support men working with the 
customary expenditure of force. 

The meal, as planned, was afterwards served 
by Dean Russell, of Columbia University, who 
gave it to a party of six of his friends. The teach- 
ers in the department of domestic science laid out 
the program and the students did the cooking. 

The cost of materials was two dollars and two 
cents, from which was deducted the value of the 
food not actually consumed. This brought the 
total cost down to one dollar and twenty-eight 
cents for six people. 

The menu and prices follow : 

Grapefruit $0.26 

Baked haddock 58 

Hollandaise sauce 10 

Potatoes on the half-shell. 13 

Rolls 17 

Butter 08 

Pickles 04 

Tea 02 

Lettuce 16 

Wafers 01 

Cheese 10 

Pineapple sherbet 24 

Angel cake 13 

$2!^ 



28 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Miss M. B. Vail, instructor in domestic science 
at Columbia University, who had charge of the 
luncheon, says that twenty-two cents would be a 
fair average for all meals; so persons who pay 
more than two hundred and forty dollars and 
ninety cents a year for food are doing an injus- 
tice to themselves and to their purses. 

There is one thing that should always be borne 
in mind — the actual nutritive value of food is the 
net worth of that food in replacing broken-down 
tissue and supplying the necessary heat- and 
force-calories. 

We often speak of our overworked liver or 
our overtaxed kidneys, and we mean that these 
great glands have been imposed on by being 
forced to handle great quantities of stuff that is 
little more than sewage-devitalized food, which 
should never have entered the system, for it con- 
tains the mininum of nutritive value while impos- 
ing the maximum of labor. 



CHAPTER VI 

"Predigested" and ''Malted" Breakfast 
Foods" 

The idea of having part of the process of diges- 
tion performed outside of the body is not a new 
one, nor is it confined to human food. About 
forty years ago there was a furor over malted 
food for cattle, which it was claimed would 
greatly increase the strength and flesh of the ani- 
mals by sparing them part of the work of diges- 
tion. It was soon found, however, that the cattle 
did fully as well when left to perform their own 
work of digestion in the way that nature intended. 

Physicians have used predigested foods of dif- 
ferent sorts for their patients for many years. 
Since the diastase of malt imitates the work of 
the diastase of saliva and pancreas so well, it is 
the common means of predigesting carbohydrates, 
when that is necessary, just as the preparations 
of pepsin and pancreatic juice are used for the 
predigestion of protein. Ordinarily predigested 
foods are intended for invalids under special con- 
ditions, and for them only on the doctor's orders. 



30 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

The diastase of malt is, as has been said, sup- 
posed to change the insoluble starch in these 
cereal foods into more soluble forms. If sufficient 
malt were used under the right conditions, a con- 
siderable portion of the starch would undoubtedly 
be thus transformed. This does not appear to be 
the case in the majority of the preparations which 
claim to be predigested. In most of the malted 
cereals very little of the starch is converted into 
any soluble form other than dextrin, and the dry 
heat of cooking produces at least a part of that 
change. Certainly the claims made for most 
brands, that the carbohydrates are completely or 
largely predigested, are quite unwarranted. Fur- 
thermore, it must be. remembered that if the cereal 
foods are thoroughly cooked at home before serv- 
ing, the proportion of soluble or at least gela- 
tinized carbohydrates formed will be fairly high — 
certainly as high as or higher than in the predi- 
gested foods designed to be eaten raw. Malt has 
a characteristic taste which is relished by many, 
and on this account the malted cereals are often 
liked. Their use helps to add variety to the diet, 
which is generally admitted to be desirable. 

It is interesting to note that a product in 
appearance and taste very closely resembling some 
of the granular, specially prepared breakfast foods 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 31 

may be made at home by dipping small pieces 
of whole-wheat or graham bread into a dilute 
mixture of glucose and malt, drying in an oven, 
and crushing. Yet it would doubtless not be 
worth while to prepare such foods in the house- 
hold. Any stale bread, however, may be dipped 
into a little molasses and water, dried from twelve 
to twenty-four hours in the warming oven of aii 
ordinary range, then crushed, and served like the 
granular brands of breakfast foods. Many tests 
have been carried on with such home-made break- 
fast foods, and they seem to be quite as appetiz- 
ing as the preparations which they resemble and 
which sell for twelve or fifteen cents a pound. 

If the labor of cooking must be taken into 
account, and strict economy is needful, crackers 
in milk may well be substituted for the ready- 
cooked breakfast cereals. It is a well-known fact 
that crackers are similar to the regular breakfast 
foods in composition, and at average prices fur- 
nish more nourishment for the same amount of 
money. Nor should it be forgotten that as a 
rational, palatable, and economical dish bread and 
milk ranks very high. 

In the diet of young children cereal foods are 
of much value. The cereal breakfast foods, when 
they agree with the children, are wholesome and 



32 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

reasonably economical articles. When eaten, as 
is usually the case, with milk or cream, they are 
an important addition to the diet. The ill effects 
sometimes noted may usually be avoided if exces- 
sive amounts of sugar are not added. Dates or 
figs, which are sometimes cooked with cereals, 
not only are palatable and wholesome, but also 
offer an easy way of varying the cereal dish. 

Cereal breakfast foods of different sorts are 
also valuable foods for the aged, as, when prop- 
erly cooked, they are soft and easily taken care 
of in the digestive tract. They are often pre- 
ferred to more hearty foods, and their use is 
certainly rational. 

In invalid dietetics cereal foods are, of course, 
almost indispensable, and the standard flours and 
meals and the more modern prepared breakfast 
and special cereal foods all find their place, either 
when cooked in ordinary ways or for the prepara- 
tion of gruels or other special dishes. 

Cereal Substitutes for Coffee 
Cereal products as coffee substitues have thus 
far proved a complete failure. Few coffee lovers 
will admit that 'Tostum" or other cereal substi- 
tutes equal or even resemble true coffee in flavor. 
A bulletin issued by the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture says : 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 33 

"A few contain a little true coffee, but for the most part 
they appear to be made of parched grains of barley, 
wheat, etc., or of grain mixed with pea hulls, corncobs, or 
wheat middlings. It is said that barley or wheat parched 
with a little molasses in an ordinary oven makes something 
indistinguishable in flavor from some of the cereal coffees 
on the market. The manufacturers claim that they make 
a harmless, unstimulating substitute for coffee, hardly to 
be distinguished from it in flavor and yielding much 
greater nourishment at lower cost. The bulk of the infu- 
sion of cereal coffee is seen to be water, and so the 
nutritive value must be correspondingly low. Skimmed 
milk is about twenty times as nutritious. The cereal sub- 
stitutes are undoubtedly cheaper than the real article, 
costing as they do from ten to twenty cents per pound 
less than the coffee berry, though much more expensive 
than home-parched rye or corn. For those who, for any 
reason, cannot drink true coffee, the cereal coffee fur- 
nishes a harmless substitute, but the nutritive value of the 
infusion is hardly worth considering in the ordinary diet. 

"If strict economy is necessary, it would perhaps be wiser 
and probably just as pleasant to use the old-fashioned 
'crust coffee,' made by steeping the toasted or browned 
broken crusts of white, brown, or preferably 'rye and 
Indian' bread in hot water, and then straining until com- 
paratively clear. Parched corn, rye, or sweet potatoes, and 
other old-fashioned coffee substitutes may also be used." 

A Word About Cooking 

Thoroughness of cooking is a factor which has 
a bearing upon digestibility. It not only makes 
the cereals more palatable, but also breaks down 
the walls of indigestible cellulose, which surround 
the starch grains and other nutrients, and pro- 
duces other changes so that the digestive juices 
can work on the nutritive ingredients more effec- 
tively. Poorly cooked cereals are less palatable 



34 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

than the same dishes well cooked, and may cause 
indigestion and be really harmful. When the 
partially cooked preparations are used care should 
be taken to insure sufficient recooking before serv- 
ing. The majority of the ready- to-eat brands 
are apparently thoroughly cooked. 

In the selection of cereal breakfast foods the 
consumer may be guided by the results of the 
analyses of disinterested chemists, by the digesti- 
bility as determined by actual tests, by cost, by 
taste, by economy, or by the observed effects of 
the goods upon individuals. It seems fair to 
conclude that the chemical composition, consid- 
ered in connection with digestibility and cost, fur- 
nishes a satisfactory guide for selection, due 
attention being paid to palatability and individual 
preferences. 

All things considered, the cereal breakfast 
foods as a class are nutritious, convenient, and 
reasonably economical foods, and worthy of an 
important place in the diet when judiciously com- 
bined with other foods. 



CHAPTER VII 

Eggs 

Eggs contain everything needed to make bone 
and flesh, but they are too concentrated to be 
taken as the sole element of diet, for the system 
requires waste. 

The digestibility of the egg is increased by 
beating it up with water, milk, or other liquid. 

In a chart brought out by the United States 
Department of Agriculture is shown the food 
value of eggs and cheese, and the energy- 
producing value of eggs measured by the number 
of calories to a pound. A man requires about 
three thousand seven hundred calories of energy 
a day ; a woman three thousand two hundred. 

CALORIES 
PER 

POUND 

Cream cheese 1885 

Cottage cheese 495 

Egg, white of 245 

Egg, yolk of 1650 

Whole egg 695 

Eggs, boiled 765 

Boiled whites 250 

Boiled yolks 1705 

American pale cheese 2055 

American red cheese 2165 



36 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Bowden cheese 1195 

California flat cheese 1945 

Cheddar cheese 2145 

Chesire cheese 1810 

Limhurger cheese 1675 

Neufchatel 1530 

Pineapple cheese 2245 

Roquefort cheese 1700 

Swiss cheese 2010 

Kumiss 240 

Raw Eggs 

There is nothing better as a stimulant when one 
is exhausted than a raw ^gg. 

Taken the same as a raw oyster, with a bit of 
salt, pepper, lemon juice, or vinegar, they are not 
unpalatable and are easily assimilated. 

Raw eggs beaten up with milk make a perfect 
food for weak children. The mixture should be 
sweetened, and may be given in small quantities 
at short intervals. 

When breakfast or any meal time is limited, 
instead of swallowing a quick lunch half masti- 
cated, take a raw ^gg, 2l graham cracker, and a 
small piece of sweet chocolate. By adding an 
orange or a banana to this you have a combina- 
tion that will sustain one for hours. 

For one whole summer, at the noon hour I 
had no time for properly eating even a quick 
lunch. I went to a drug store near my office and 
had two eggs thoroughly shaken up in about two 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 37 

ounces of chocolate syrup, two ounces of milk, 
and the glass filled with plain soda. This I found 
would sustain me thoroughly, in fact, much better 
than a full meal hurriedly eaten. Many persons 
will find two eggs too hearty and really more than 
they require, and one tgg amply sufficient. At 
a cost of ten cents, the ordinary drug-store price, 
one will thus have enough nourishment in point 
of food value to carry one along nicely and sup- 
plant the midday meal. 

The office clerk and others, who for various 
reasons cannot visit the drug store or soda foun- 
tain, can take the raw tgg, and afterward eat a 
piece of Baker's Chocolate about two inches 
square. This will take the place of the above, 
and if an orange or banana can be had, so much 
the better. 

Whole Eggs 
For the purpose of proper analysis, Professor 
Langworthy, who has charge of the nutrition 
investigations of the United States Department 
of Agriculture, has taken eggs as a whole and 
also the ^gg divided as "yolk" and "white." This 
is to show the food value of the whole ^gg, and 
the separate nourishment in the white and the 
yolk. The whole tgg furnishes six hundred and 



38 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

ninety-five calories of energy per pound. It is 
seventy-three and seven-tenths per cent, water, 
fourteen and eight-tenths per cent, protein, ten 
and five-tenths per cent, fat, and one per cent, 
ash. An ^gg should not be boiled more than two 
minutes. The longer it is boiled, the harder it 
becomes to digest, although some physicians claim 
that an tgg boiled for twenty minutes is easier 
to digest than when boiled ten or fifteen minutes. 

The Egg, White and Yolk 
Eggs particularly recommend themselves to the 
housekeeper because of their high nourishing 
value, and the many ways in which they can be 
prepared for the table. Eggs are not so economi- 
cal as milk, judged from the nourishment stand- 
point, but except when their price is very high, 
they are less expensive than meat. The fuel 
value of the yolk measures one thousand six hun- 
dred and fifty calories per pound, and the white 
affords only two hundred and forty-five calories 
per pound of nourishment. 

Omelet, No. i 

6 eggs, whites and yolks 
beaten separately 
Yi pint of milk 
6 teaspoons corn starch 
1 teaspoon baking-powder 
A little salt 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 39 

Add the whites, beaten to a stiff froth, last. 
Cook in a Httle butter. 

Omelet, No. 2 
First, have fresh eggs; to each tgg add one 
tablespoon of milk; whip thoroughly. The pan 
must be so hot that the butter will melt instantly. 
Pour the tgg and milk into the pan. If the fire 
is right the whole will cook in one minute. It 
will cook after it has left the pan. Begin at one 
side and carefully roll the edge over and over 
until all is rolled up. Turn on a hot plate and 
serve immediately. 

Omelet, No. 3 
Take four eggs, separate them ; beat the whites 
very stiff. To the beaten yolks add one-half cup of 
milk and a little salt. Heat the spider very hot, 
grease with a little butter, turn the eggs in, cook 
quite dry, then set in oven until it grows light. 

Soft-boiled Eggs 
Place the eggs in a warm saucepan, cover with 
boiling water. Let them stand where they will 
keep hot, but not boil, for fifteen minutes. This 
method will cook both whites and yolks. 

It is poor economy to limit your family in 



40 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

respect to eggs. There Is nothing more nutri- 
tious, and even at four cents each they are cheaper 
than meat. They may be served in such an unHm- 
ited variety of ways that one should never tire 
of them. Although a perfect food, they are not 
intended to be eaten exclusively, any more than 
other foods. They are one of the most highly 
concentrated forms of food, and, being wholly 
destitute of starch, should be eaten with bread 
or rice. 

Do not use a fresh-laid ^gg', by that is meant 
one that has been laid within ten hours. The 
white does not become thick or set until after 
that time has elapsed, and it cannot be beaten 
stiff. 

Eggs for poaching or boiling are best when 
thirty-six hours old. Eggs with a dark shell are 
richer and have larger yolks than those with a 
light shell. 

Hard-boiled Eggs 
Cook eggs for twenty minutes in water just 
below the boiling point for use in any receipt 
which specifies hard-boiled eggs. The yolk of 
an tgg cooked ten minutes is tough and indigest- 
ible ; twenty minutes will make the yolk dry and 
mealy. Then it may be more easily rubbed 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 41 

smooth for salad or other mixtures, and more 
quickly penetrated by the gastric juice. 

If the shell of an ^gg be cracked before boiling, 
pierce several small holes in the large end to keep 
the contents from bursting out at the crack. 

When Eggs Are Unsafe 
Eggs undergo decomposition very readily. 
Infertile eggs will keep somewhat longer than 
fertile eggs. Incubation begins very rapidly if 
the weather is warm. After incubation begins, 
decomposition proceeds very rapidly, unless the 
tgg has been chilled — in which case it becomes 
a dead ^gg. A dead egg will rot very fast, like 
a dead hen ; and a sick egg is very unwholesome. 
Examine a perfectly fresh egg, and see how 
easily and quickly it comes out of the shell. Now 
an egg that does not come out of the shell readily, 
that sticks together, and the yolk of which, when 
forced, breaks and rolls around, has had an attack 
of a disease similar to peritonitis. It is an in- 
fected egg^ and should not be used. 



CHAPTER VIII 
False Economy 

No matter how cheap a thing is, if you do not 
need it, you waste money in buying it. 

The first cost of meat is not the only thing to 
be considered in determining the final cost. A 
Hamburg steak, which is made from chopped 
meat, can be nicely cooked in ten-minutes' time, 
while the same meat, if cut into blocks and made 
into a stew, will require an hour and a half. The 
cost of fuel and time consumed, if time has any 
value, as it should have, must be added to the 
price of the meat to get the final cost. 

Remember that there are many cheap meats 
that cook quickly and give just as much nourish- 
ment as a steak at fifty cents a pound. A pound 
and a half of round steak, put twice through the 
meat chopper and made into a roll or cannelon, 
may be baked in thirty minutes. The same 
amount of sirloin steak would cost fifty cents a 
pound and require fifteen minutes to broil. The 
round steak would cost twenty-five cents a pound. 

Never buy a cent's worth more than can be 
used. 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 43 

The impression that vegetable products are 
much cheaper than animal is by no means true. 
Cottolene and "Crisco" are no cheaper than tal- 
low and lard. A good quality of olive oil is 
quite as expensive as good butter. Green peas, 
out of season, rival the salmon that goes with 
them. Mushrooms may properly be considered 
the high-water mark of a useless food. In spite 
of the beef trusts, the cheaper animal fats are still 
among the least expensive sources of human 
energy. 

To live well at small cost, it is false economy 
to purchase dry groceries in small quantities. 
Purchase a sufficient amount at a time to last 
the month through. 

Perishable foods should be purchased at least 
every two or three days. 

Never buy poor fruit because it is cheap — you 
will find it dear at any price. There is no econ- 
omy in purchasing more fruit than you can use 
up in a day or two. If the fruit is ripe and fit 
to eat, it will begin to decay before being used. 
What you would save by buying in quantity you 
lose in quality, for specked or inferior fruit is 
neither appetizing nor healthful. 

It is false economy to buy canned goods when 
you can get a fresh article. Buy fresh vegetables 



44 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

and prepare enough one day to last for two; in 
this way you will have a better table and will save 
considerable money. 

It is always important, and more particularly 
so at the present time, when the high cost of liv- 
ing must be considered, that we know something 
definite regarding cheap and nutritious foods. 
When we stop to consider the price paid the pro- 
ducer, and the cost to us, the consumers, it is time 
for us to get down to bottom facts, to return to 
the simple life. 

Dr. Wiley, in an article on the economy of 
nutrition, says that we pay three hundred per 
cent, more for the cereals which have unfortu- 
nately taken the name of "breakfast foods," than 
the cost of production and their nutritive value 
justify. 

The amount of money paid in this country for 
labels and containers for foods sold under brand 
names has assumed enormous proportions. This 
expense has to be borne by the purchaser of these 
foods from the retail dealer. 

Pure foods are, as a general thing, largely de- 
void of flavor — the white of an ^gg, for instance, 
or any other clear protein, or any fat, or any car- 
bohydrate except sugars. 

Experience is said to be a good monitor. We 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 45 

need abundant food, enough to cover our living 
expenses and our work, and no more. Our food 
should be good, that is, it should be fresh, well 
cooked, appetizing, and digestible. 

Digestion may be affected by various tempo- 
rary mental causes, viz: If we are cross, or 
overtired, or in a hurry, have unpleasant thoughts, 
or there is discussion of disagreeable matters at 
the table, it will be impaired. 

Whatever goes wrong with the food between 
the dealer's shop and the stomach is our own 
fault. 

As a rule we shall do best to stick to the old- 
time foods, on which our race has thrived since 
the time of Adam, with cautious excursions into 
the new and unproved methods of diet. For the 
normal individual it is enough to eat at leisure 
what he Hkes best in the way of good foods. As 
a rule, the appetite is a safer guide to follow than 
science. 



CHAPTER IX 
Shall We Eat Meat? 

These are the beasts which ye shall eat: The ox, the 
sheep, and the goat; the hart and the roebuck, and the 
fallow deer and the wild goat, and the pygarg and the 
wild ox, and the chamois. — Deuteronomy 14:4-7. 

With the amount of theoretical and practical 
literature on food, it is not a difficult matter for 
persons interested in the subject to discover for 
themselves by experiments the diet that is best 
suited to their needs. The better the quality of 
food, the better the effects produced. Unfor- 
tunately, in our country at the present time, the 
best foods are comparatively expensive, such as 
choice meats, game, poultry, fish, fruit, and veg- 
etables. It will be noticed that more talent and 
intellectual strength are generally found among 
people who use meat liberally than among those 
who live principally on farinaceous food. What- 
ever merits vegetarians may claim for their diet, 
they cannot produce a single talented or hand- 
some vegetarian, born of vegetarian parents in 
England, America, or Germany. 

It is an established fact that children educated 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 47 

in charitable institutions, where they are chiefly 
fed on cereals, rarely develop into talented or 
handsome men and women. In fact, a prepon- 
derance of cereal food deteriorates body and 
mind. There is no evidence to prove that a vege- 
tarian diet is better for our climate than the usual 
mixed diet. On the contrary, the many deaths 
among vegetarian teachers of late proves that 
vegetarianism, as practiced at present, is a danger- 
ous dietic experiment. Because some young peo- 
ple are in apparent health on a vegetarian diet 
cannot be considered adequate proof of the 
theory, for the digestive organs of the young are 
usually strong. When children are weak, vege- 
tarian foods have proved to be much more harm- 
ful than the usual mixed diet. 

We are told that people of middle age and 
past should eat sparingly, and they are particu- 
larly cautioned against the use of meat, especially 
red meat (any kind of beef), on account of its 
causing an excess of uric acid, and increasing the 
tendency to hardening of the arteries (arterio- 
sclerosis). Dairy food, milk, meat broth, and 
milk puddings are recommended as their staple 
diet. 

The true value of meat has not been sufficiently 
recognized by the public, for the reason that it 



48 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

has been used with other foods, which have mini- 
mized its beneficial effects. If eaten by the nor- 
mal individual, with vegetables, tomatoes, and 
lemon juice, it has a vitalizing and rejuvenating 
effect upon persons past middle age. Meat pro- 
duces physical and mental energy and vegetables 
prevent the formation of an excess of uric acid, 
and they also keep the excretory organs and the 
blood in a healthy state. Tomatoes clear the 
brain, although this is not generally realized, and 
lemon juice, if used in place of salt, assists di- 
gestion. 

When we stop and think that meat has been 
considered a necessary food for the human 
race since the earliest Biblical days, we might 
ask ourselves whether it would be a wise 
proceeding on our part to alter the plans of the 
Creator. 

Elderly people need not curtail their daily 
rations as they grow older; they may eat until 
satisfied, provided the right foods are eaten. To 
remain in good condition physically and mentally, 
we must eat sufficient to make up for the daily 
expenditure of nerve force. 

There is no virtue in denying one's self neces- 
sary food. 

Animals cannot do good work and keep in 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 49 

good condition unless they receive a proper 
amount of food. 

It has been clearly proved that the majority of 
ailments incident to old age are prevented or 
remedied in proportion to the amount of meat 
and vegetables which the individual can properly 
assimilate. 



CHAPTER X 

Food Experts 

Food experts would have us believe that they 
understand the processes of digestion, absorption, 
and elimination as thoroughly as a watch expert 
understands the mechanical action of a watch. 
They wisely discuss the various constituents of 
flesh, wheat, milk, etc., as if it were in their power 
to produce artificial flesh, etc., with ease. They 
discuss the process of digestion as if they really 
understood it. 

The fact of the matter is that our greatest 
scientists understand but little of the process of 
digestion, for the simple reason that they do not 
understand the secret of life. They cannot 
explain why the human stomach can digest the 
stomach of an ostrich or an elephant, and yet not 
digest itself. They explain that it is the life of 
the stomach that prevents its self-destruction, but 
they cannot explain what this life is. Similarly, 
they do not understand the real food values of 
meat, eggs, milk, etc. They can make artificial 
milk which contains all the chemical properties 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 51 

and the correct proportions of real milk ; but let 
them feed this artificial milk exclusively to a 
human being or to animals and they will kill the 
subjects of their experiment. Tests with arti- 
ficial milk on animals have proved this. 

With these facts before me, I cannot become 
very enthusiastic over the food values of many 
of the prepared and concentrated foods which 
flood our markets, especially when I have good 
reason to believe that many such foods contain 
strong stimulants, intended to arouse the nervous 
system and excite the blood circulation. Until 
we really discover the secret of life, I believe it 
is best to eat the foods which we have been eating 
for centuries — foods that have made every cell 
in our bodies. We should follow our instincts. 
If a certain food does not agree with us and gives 
us pain, let us look upon such pain as a warning 
of Nature. If we obey these warnings, we need 
not bother our heads about the chemical proper- 
ties of food. 

What Doctors Do Not Know 
The wonderful processes which go on in the 
nourishment of the tissues of the body remain 
to-day much of a mystery. It is useless for sci- 
ence to undertake to explain the causes. We 



52 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

know only that they operate through established 
laws of physical chemistry which are unalterable. 
The wonderful combinations which are produced, 
by which inert matter is converted into the living 
tissues, are of so complex a nature as to be totally 
beyond the reach of the most expert chemists and 
physicians. 

Human physiology has taught us that the tis- 
sues of the body are wonderfully variable in their 
composition, and that they possess in their cells 
a selective power to take from the blood current 
such materials as may be most suitable for their 
needs. 

The ordinary individual would best not bother 
himself about such complex matters as the char- 
acter of the proteins he consumes, as long as he 
does not neglect any of the natural foods and con- 
fine himself to some one particular or exclusive 
form of diet. If he wishes to remain on the safe 
side and yet adopt any exclusive diet, it should be 
composed largely of one of the established foods, 
such as milk or wheat, which are found capable 
of sustaining life. 

Perfect digestion depends to a great extent 
upon perfect cooking; and on perfect cooking lies 
the possibility of the body's absorbing the nutri- 
ment it requires. Food that is not digested is 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 53 

wasted, and waste products clog the body and 
cause inefficiency. 

A normal person should avoid the tendency to 
'^pamper" or '"spare" the digestive organs, in 
searching for foods that are digestible ; the stom- 
ach, Hver, and intestines need exercise as well as 
the rest of the body. While they should not be 
overloaded with fats and rich dishes, they should 
not, on the other hand, be given a diet of eggs, 
milk, or ''predigested" foods, or, as a natural 
consequence, they will become weakened. 

Do you know how wrong eating causes disease ? 

Over ninety per cent, of all sickness originates 
in the stomach or bowels. 

This is not to be wondered at when we take 
into consideration the number of feet in the intes- 
tinal tract, which act as a repository for germs 
of almost every conceivable kind, through the 
medium of w^hat we eat and drink. The system 
becomes infected in consequence and we develop 
typhoid fever, inflammatory rheumatism, and a 
thousand and one other ailments. 

Many foods, harmless in themselves, when 
eaten in combination with other harmless foods 
produce a chemical reaction and literally explode. 



CHAPTER XI 
Olive Oil, the Purest Food Known 

In considering the nutritive elements that are 
disclosed by an analysis of given foods, we must 
bear in mind what proportion of these values will 
be expended in converting the food into blood. 

This is the only sensible plan by which we can 
arrive at the actual nutritive value of any given 
food. 

The rightful conclusion, therefore, is that the 
highest nutritive value is found in the foods which 
are rich in nutritive elements, free from poison- 
ous matter, and which contain but a small amount 
of effete matter. If their physical character ren- 
ders them easily assimilated, their nutritive value 
is still further enhanced. 

There is a form of food that conforms very 
closely to these specifications, and we may justly 
consider it among the highest in nutritive value 
of all the foods used by man. 

This food is olive oil. 

Every particle of it is food, not waste matter. 
There is no ninety per cent, of water, as in vege- 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 55 

tables; no thirty to sixty per cent, of water, as 
in eggs or meat ; no vast bulk of indigestible mat- 
ter that must be excreted — nothing but food. 

Again, pure olive oil is the purest food known. 
There is no contamination from soil or water, as 
in vegetables; no uric acid or lingering diseases, 
as in meat ; no poisonous ptomaines. 

Again, olive oil is so easily assimilated that it 
may be "eaten" through the skin. The cutaneous 
capillaries absorb it eagerly and carry it into the 
circulation, where it is manifested in a short time 
in the increased number of hemoglobins of the 
blood, resisting the process of cell destruction and 
building up new tissue. 

The value of olive oil is not in its heat- 
producing qualities, as is generally supposed, but 
it is primarily a blood-maker and a tissue-builder, 
and is specially called for in every form of mal- 
nutrition or malassimilation. It also has, aside 
from its food value, a decidedly beneficial action 
upon the entire intestinal tract. 

In speaking of the benefits to be derived from 
the use of olive oil, I mean the absolutely pure oil, 
and not that adulterated with cotton seed or any 
similar substance. To guard against substitution 
and adulteration, insist on having one of the sev- 
eral leading brands of California olive oil 



CHAPTER XII 

Vagaries 

Many vagaries are prevalent regarding our 
diet, what it should be, and what it should not 
be. It would seem that a man can live on any- 
wholesome food which he likes and can digest, 
and which has not too much water in it for him 
to get his day's fuel out of three or four pounds. 

The source of a people's food does not seem 
to make the slightest difference in its mental and 
moral qualities. The Eskimos, who live entirely 
on meat and often eat ten pounds at a meal, are 
the most peaceful of mankind. The Armenian 
massacres, however, the Balkan atrocities, and 
the Russian pograms are the work of those who 
are practically vegetarians. 

The Yale teams train on beef and mutton. The 
Greek athletes, who were equally good men, 
trained on barley, figs, and olive oil. 

In the old days the messenger service from 
Madras to Bombay and Calcutta was by means 
of men on foot, who did sixty miles for a day's 
work and kept it up, a thousand miles at a 
stretch, on a diet of rice. 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 57 

In the race of the alhed armies to Pekin, the 
Japanese soldiers fairly ran away from the Euro- 
pean regiments, and that on a diet of boiled rice 
and dried fish. 

In China a tea-carrying coolie, for a day's 
work, packs a hundred and fifty pounds over forty 
miles of road. His diet also is of rice. 

The famous porters of Asia Minor walk off 
with a quarter of a ton on their backs, and nothing 
but bread and dried fruit in their insides. 

The Chilean miners, who are judged among 
the strongest laborers in the world, do their work 
on boiled beans and bread. 

The winner of the great race from Dresden to 
Berlin, in 1902, was a corresponding clerk, thirty 
years of age, who had been tied to his desk nine 
hours a day, and had done most of his walking 
on Sundays. He had been a vegetarian for ten 
years; and for six months before the race had 
left off eating eggs, milk, cheese, and butter as 
well. His training diet was two meals a day of 
crackers, bread, marmalade, fruit juice, Quaker 
oats, nut butter, and bromose. 

The corresponding stunt of the British Isles is 
to walk from Land's End to John o' Groats, a 
distance of nine hundred and eight miles. The 
last record for this feat was held by a young 



58 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

workman named Allen, who covered the distance 
in a little less than seventeen days, and did one 
hundred and forty miles in the last two. Allen 
is a man somewhat radical in his views, who 
sleeps out of doors, and feeds on bread, oatmeal, 
and vegetables, with a little fruit. 

The men nurses of the Battle Creek Sanita- 
rium, all of whom are vegetarians, were matched 
in an endurance test against some student ath- 
letes for holding the arm extended horizontally 
at full length. The nurses came out distinctly 
ahead. Several went beyond one hour, while one 
stopped at three hours and twenty minutes, more 
from boredom than from fatigue. 

Mr. Horace Fletcher, who begins his day's 
work at four in the morning and eats nothing 
until noon, when over fifty years of age, put in a 
week with a Yale boat crew in training, and held 
his own with the lads. His diet was only cereal, 
milk, and maple sugar, costing eleven cents a 
day. 



CHAPTER XIII 
Easy Ways to Prevent Waste 

''Waste not, want not," is the motto which 
should be hung in every kitchen. Every kind of 
food left over can be utilized in some way. 

Of course, in using "left-overs" something new 
must be added. 

Tough steak may be finely chopped, seasoned 
with salt, pepper, and onions, and fried in little 
cakes. 

A nice stew may be made of the pieces of cold 
beef. Cut them into small pieces and cover with 
water, boil till tender, add an onion, carrot, pota- 
toes, a little turnip, a spoonful of rice, pepper, 
and salt. Serve with slices of toasted bread. 

Scraps of veal, mutton, lamb, or lean pork, 
alone or all together, make a fine meat pie, or, 
finely chopped up, may be heated in tomato sauce. 

Remnants of fowl of any kind may be served 
with cream sauce, hashed with a dash of mustard 
and served on toast, or used as sandwiches. The 
bones of fowl slowly simmered in water for a 
long time give the foundation for a rich soup. 

Chop pieces of cold ham finely, season with 



6o TRUE FOOD VALUES 

onion and mustard, and use for sandwiches, with 
scrambled eggs, or in hash. Horseradish makes 
a good seasoning for this. 

Cold potatoes may be fried, mashed, creamed, 
and used in salads. 

Other vegetables may be used in hash or stews, 
or as a vegetable salad. 

Cold beans and corn warmed up in milk make 
a fine succotash. 

Cold rice may be made into a pudding, or used 
in muffins and griddle cakes. 

Make hash and balls with left-over fish. Chop 
cold oysters finely and add to poultry dressing. 
Dry and pound all stale bread, and use for rolling 
croquettes and fish in. 

To boil cracked eggs, put a teaspoonful of salt 
in the water, and the whites will not come 
through. 

To remove o^gg stain from silver, rub with a 
wet rag dipped in salt. 

Before squeezing a lemon, heat it thoroughly 
first, and nearly double the amount of juice will 
be obtained. 

To avoid waste in cooking potatoes, take them 
up as soon as they are done. Of course, it is 
important to begin to cook them at the proper 
time. When boiled, baked, fried, or steamed. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 6i 

they are rendered watery by continuing to cook 
after they reach the proper point. For this rea- 
son potatoes, to bake or boil, should be selected 
so as to have them nearly the same size. Begin 
with the largest first, and continue to select the 
largest until all are gone. Be careful that the 
water does not stop boiling, as this will make the 
potatoes watery. Never boil them hard, as it 
breaks them. When peeled, they boil fifteen min- 
utes quicker. The secret of having potatoes mealy 
and palatable is to cook them rapidly. Steam 
until the skin cracks and a fork can easily pene- 
trate the center. If not to be served at once, con- 
tinue steaming, as they become solid sooner than 
when boiled. New potatoes should always be 
boiled in two waters, and old ones are also better 
for it. 

In making broth it is a great mistake to assume 
that the nearly tasteless mass of fibers which is 
left undissolved by the water has no nutritive 
value. This tasteless material has been found to 
be as easily and completely digested as the same 
weight of ordinary roast. It contains nearly all 
the protein of the meat, and, if it is properly 
combined with vegetables, salt, and flavoring 
material, makes an agreeable as well as nutritive 
food. 



62 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

The cheapest foods, generally speaking, are 
those which can be secured in bulk. 

I purchased what purported to be a pound of 
bacon, sliced and put up in glass jars, paying 
thirty-five cents for it. A side of bacon can be 
purchased for eighteen cents a pound. I was pay- 
ing seventeen cents for the brand. 

I have been using in my family a well-known 
preparation of wheat. It is sold for ten cents a 
package, which is supposed to contain one pound ; 
but on the package in small letters, it is stated: 
"This package contains five ounces net weight." 
At this rate a pound costs thirty-two cents. 
Wheat costs about two cents a pound. 



CHAPTER XIV 
Why Folks Grow Fat 

People are too stout mainly for two reasons: 
They eat too much and exercise too little; there 
is some defect in their oxidation apparatus. 

Such persons have an abnormally powerful 
"sweet tooth"; but a fondness for sweets is a 
symptom of and not a cause of the obesity. 

For normal individuals sugar is a good digest- 
ible food. In healthy children a fondness for it 
does not cause obesity or indigestion. Normally 
sugar is too easily oxidized to be stored up as 
fat or adipose tissue. 

Fat in the body is not derived so much from 
the consumption of fats and oils in the food as 
from carbohydrates, like starch and sugar. 

The consumption of one ounce a day more than 
the system requires for actual expenditure of 
energy, would, in six months' time, increase the 
bodily weight about ten pounds. 

However this may be, the most common cause 
of obesity is excessive eating together with a lack 
of sufficient or real exercise. As a rule this class 
of individuals does not know how to take exercise. 



64 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

That form of obesity coming on after forty, 
associated with florid cheeks, due to the dilated 
blood vessels of the face, should serve as a 
warning signal of approaching arteriosclerosis 
(hardening of the arteries). 

It is a difficult matter to make people realize 
the danger of overheating, and the penalties 
incurred, namely, high blood pressure, hardening 
of the arteries, and premature old age, often 
called the A, B, C of prosperity — apoplexy, 
Bright's disease, and cardiac degeneration. 

Active physical exertion that brings into play 
the muscles of the body is the rational and only 
method for oxidation, and this must be kept up 
to prevent the accumulation of piled-up fuel. For 
the average person four miles a day, rain or shine, 
should be the rule — not a lazy man's walk, but 
a quick, energetic movement that will start the 
perspiration. A regularly laid-out course of gym- 
nastics, or physical culture exercises, is particu- 
larly adapted to the reduction of the excessive fat 
desposits about the hips, back, chest, and abdo- 
men. Of course, if there is any marked weakness 
about the heart muscles, the exercises must be 
carefully graduated by the physician according 
to the heart's efficiency. 

Another very efficacious measure is to keep the 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 65 

bowels open, and to see that the liver is perform- 
ing its functions properly. Many, if not most, 
persons have the false notion that if the bowels 
are kept open by dosing with physic, the liver will 
take care of itself. If the judicious use of fruit 
and the proper diet do not remedy the constipa- 
tion, instead of resorting to active cathartics, it 
is better to seek the aid of Nature's remedy in 
some of the natural spring waters, such as Con- 
gress Springs, Hunyadi Janos, Pluto Water, etc. 

Another very decided help in these cases is 
fasting. The human stomach is none the worse 
for a complete rest for three or four days, not- 
withstanding the foolish notion that it is danger- 
ous to skip over a few meals now and then. 

One good scheme of reducing weight is to eat 
but one kind of food at a meal. This is not rec- 
ommended for any one in poor health, but for the 
hearty obese. 

It is much easier to get along with a small 
amount of starches and sugars if a little fat food 
is taken than if not. Crisp bacon is one of the 
most digestible forms of fat to eat, and is cer- 
tainly one of the most satisfying. 



CHAPTER XV 

Useful Hints 

Endeavor to avoid waste either in food or 
coal. Some cooks will make a rich soup or savory 
stew out of fragments that a wasteful one rejects 
as useless. 

Poverty does not in any way prevent skill, and 
skill in preparing food means better living at less 
cost. 

Economy in buying does not mean buying 
cheap foods. It means the wise selection of such 
foods as your purse will allow and those best 
suited to the occupation of your family. 

Meat is the most expensive and extravagant of 
all foods. Save every bit that is left over and 
make it into a dish for another meal. 

Remember that pure molasses, honey, and 
maple syrup are wholesome foods, and often a 
meal supplemented by biscuits and honey, or mush 
and syrup, instead of the usual heavy desert, is 
not only more wholesome, but more enjoyable 
and certainly more economical. 

Sugar is a source of quick energy. Give your 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 67 

child a little pure candy and some coarse oatmeal 
crackers after school, and he is furnished with 
quick energy in an absolutely harmless form. Do 
not give candy or sweets just before a meal, for 
the appetite may be sated and the child refuse 
his regular food. 

No matter whether the income is large or small, 
the balanced ration can always be maintained. 
Remember that all expenses beyond a certain 
point are for flavor and luxuries rather than for 
necessities. 

To Freshen Vegetables : — Unless vegetables 
are taken direct from the garden, they are always 
improved by freshening in clear, cold water. This 
is especially true of cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, 
cucumbers, and pie-plant. If new potatoes are 
soaked thus, the work of scraping them is made 
much easier and the potatoes themselves will be 
found mealier. Onions should always be put in 
cold w^ater before cooking in order to remove the 
acrid part of the vegetable. 

Cheese, cabbage, fish, and baked beans should 
never be put into the refrigerator. They all leave 
an odor of which it is difficult to rid the refriger- 
ator, and they also flavor the food. 

Cooked foods of all kinds should be cooled 
before they are placed in the refrigerator. 



68 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Articles of food made of gelatin or of milk 
should be kept covered, as both absorb not only 
odors but germs. 

Brine in which articles for pickles are to be 
stored should be strong enough to hold up an tgg. 
A generous pint of coarse salt to one gallon of 
water is the usual proportion. 

To Keep Eggs: — Place two inches of wood 
ashes in the bottom of a tin pail. In this, stand 
on the small end as many fresh eggs as you can 
easily, without letting them touch. Sift over 
them two inches of ashes and adjust another 
layer of eggs. When the pail is full, cover it 
tight, and place it in a cool cellar. The eggs will 
keep perfectly all winter. This is an easy and 
perfectly satisfactory method of keeping eggs. 
Buying Meats in Midsummer 

In planning the meat for the day, bear in mind 
the fact that in hot weather all meats (especially 
the flesh of young animals), fish, shell fish, eggs, 
milk and cheese should only be used when per- 
fectly fresh, and even then should be watched 
most carefully. 

Therefore, buy in small quantities and take 
extra precautions in the cooking. During great 
heat, you cannot be too careful in examining 
your purchase before cooking. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 69 

When a joint shows signs of taint, cut off the 
affected part and make sure that the remainder 
is quickly washed in vinegar and water, and it 
will be quite sweet. 

Because of these midsummer difficulties, it is 
just as well to bear in mind the derivation of the 
much-talked-of ''ptomaine" poisoning. Gruesome 
as it is, it is better to study it as a preventive 
measure than to realize it as a painful, if not 
fatal, experience. So here it is : The term is 
derived from the Greek word, ptoma, a corpse, 
as the poisonous compounds known as "pto- 
maines" are found in dead bodies. 

Because of this, buy only small meats (veal is 
at its best in the spring), that can be cooked 
immediately, fish that, like Caesar's wife, is 
"above suspicion," smoked and salted meats, and 
eggs which, boiled hard, make a substantial salad 
with mayonnaise dressing and as omelet afford 
an agreeable vehicle for meat (minced ham), 
vegetables (corn, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc.), 
and fruit, as in apricot omelet. 

If you are near the water buy fish freely, for 
many varieties are then at their best, some of 
which are not available at all in the winter except 
in a most inferior form due to long distance 
transportation and cold-storage risks. There- 



70 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

fore, bake bluefish and mackerel, and utilize the 
remnants by moulding them with gelatin. 

To Preserve Lemons: — Put them into a 
crock and cover with water. They will keep in 
winter two or three months. 

Preservation of Flour: — Flour should not 
be kept in a storeroom or pantry where there is 
cooked food, as it readily absorbs odors. Igno- 
rance of this fact accounts for poor bread oftener 
than does an inferior quality of flour. 

Keep it in a cool, dry, airy room, where it is 
not exposed to a freezing temperature, or to one 
above seventy degrees. Always sift before using. 
It should not be kept in a place where there are 
onions, fish, vegetables, decaying, or other 
odorous substances, or in a damp room or cellar. 

Molasses will run out of a measuring-cup 
quickly if the cup is first dipped in cornstarch. 

Deep-fat Frying: — In various experiments 
carried on to ascertain whether deep-fat frying 
or sauteing (frying in a small amount of fat) 
is preferable, the former method has proved to 
be more economical and the products more digest- 
ible, because at least a fourth less fat is absorbed 
by the foods. To be fried in deep fat, foods must 
contain enough tgg to coagulate them instantly 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 71 

(as fritters), or else be coated with a thin layer 
of Qgg or dissolved gelatin (as croquettes). The 
surface is then instantly sealed, and the fat will 
not be absorbed to any great extent. 

"The kitchen should be a frank and friendly 
part of the house." — Thoreau. 

Fine-grained sugar makes better cake than 
coarse-grained. 

Bread flour may be used in place of pastry flour 
for cake-making, provided two tablespoonfuls of 
cornstarch are substituted for two tablespoonfuls 
of flour in each cup. 

It takes one and one-third cups of powdered 
sugar to equal a cup of granulated sugar, and 
one and one-half cups of brown sugar to equal 
one of granulated sugar. 

One half of a cup of cottonseed oil, less one 
tablespoonful, is equal to one half-cup of butter. 

In many common recipes sour milk may be 
substituted for sweet milk, using, instead of the 
baking-powder called for in the recipe, one-half 
the quantity of bicarbonate of soda. One pint of 
thick, sour milk will require a level teaspoonful of 
bicarbonate of soda to neutralize it. 

One-fourth of a cup of butter plus three table- 
spoonfuls of lard equals one half-cup of butter. 

Water in which potatoes have been boiled may 



^2 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

be used as a suitable substitute for sweet milk in 
making cake. 

If a cake is sticky, it is because it has not been 
sufficiently baked or because too much sugar 
was used. 



CHAPTER XVI 
Flour 

It is impossible to make good bread with poor 
flour. Good flour should not be perfectly white 
in color, but of a creamy, yellowish-white shade. 
If it has a damp peel, is sticky, and gradually 
forms into lumps or cakes up, it is not of the 
best quality. Good flour, when squeezed by the 
hand, holds together in a mass and retains the 
impression of the fingers, and when made into 
dough it is elastic, easy to be kneaded, will stay 
in a round, puffy shape, and will take up a large 
quantity of water. Poor flour will be sticky, 
spread itself over the board, and will never seem 
stiff enough to be handled no matter how much 
flour be used. 

It is extravagant to buy cheap flour. 

It is estimated that one barrel of flour will last 
one person one year. 

Flour is not improved by long keeping, though 
many flour dealers will tell you differently. 

Flour should always be kept in a cool, dry 
place, as the least dampness causes it to absorb 



74 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

moisture; the gluten loses its tenacity, and bread 
made from it is coarse and heavy. 
Yeast 

How was yeast first made ? How can a young 
housekeeper start her own, when away from 
stores and friends, where she can neither buy nor 
borrow? These questions are often asked, and 
the answer is simple: Make a thin batter with 
flour and water, and let it stand in a warm place 
till it ferments and is full of bubbles. A pint of 
this ferment is equal to one cup of old yeast in 
starting the new. 

There are three kinds of yeast in general use : 
the dry, the compressed, and the Hquid. 

Dry yeast cakes, like the ''National" or 'Twin 
Brothers," are cheap and always ready to use. 
Mrs. Lincoln, in her cookbook, says : "They are 
generally liked by those who care more for econ- 
omy of time and trouble than for the quality of 
their bread." 

Compressed yeast cakes, such as the "Vienna" 
or "Fleischmann's," give excellent satisfaction 
when perfectly fresh, and where bread is made 
in large quantities. For a small family, however, 
where only a quarter of a cake is used perhaps 
not more than twice a week, they are incon- 
venient, expensive, and wasteful. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 75 

There are none so independent as those who 
make their own yeast. 

The best home-made yeast is that made from 
the potato. The grated raw potato is to be pre- 
ferred to the boiled potato, and the yeast is made 
in much less time. Old potatoes are better than 
new for yeast, because they contain more sugar. 

The really essential points are that the water 
shall be boiling, so that all the cells of the potato 
shall be acted upon. The salt and sugar assist 
in the fermentation, and the hops and ginger 
serve to prevent the yeast from souring, by check- 
ing the fermentation before all the sugar is con- 
verted into alcohol. Porcelain or granite kettles 
should be used for boiling the hops and potatoes, 
as iron or tin causes the yeast to turn dark- 
colored. 

The yeast for starting must be perfectly fresh, 
and never added until the boiling mixture has 
become lukewarm, or the plant will be killed. It 
must be kept warm, and stirred several times 
while rising, and the next day put away in glass 
jars that have been well scalded. Keep in a cool 
place, and always shake or stir well before using. 
Raw-potato Yeast 

^ cup flour 3 raw potatoes 

54 cup sugar 1 to 2 quarts boiling water 

1 tablespoon salt 1 cup yeast 



76 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Have at least three quarts of water that is boil- 
ing. Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl, 
grate the potatoes as quickly as possible, and mix 
them at once with the flour. Pour the boiling 
water over the grater, and rinse off the potato 
into the bowl, using perhaps a pint of water at 
first. Mix the water thoroughly with the potato 
and flour ; then add, slowly, enough more boiling 
water to make it the consistency of thin starch. 
If it does not thicken, pour the mixture into a 
double boiler or granite pan, and let it come to 
the boiling point, stirring well to keep it from 
sticking. Put through a strainer and let it cool. 
When lukewarm add the yeast. Cover slightly, 
and keep in a warm (not hot) place, until light 
and covered with white foam. After it begins 
to rise, beat it well a number of times, as this 
makes it stronger. When well risen, put it into 
wide-mouthed earthen or glass jars. Reserve one 
cupful or more in a small glass jar for the next 
yeast-making. 

This yeast will keep well for two weeks, and 
makes the finest kind of bread. 

This receipt for making yeast can be varied by 
using boiling hop-water. Steep one-fourth of a 
cup of loose hops five minutes in three pints of 
water, and strain into the potato and flour. Or 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS yy 

the flour may be left out, using more potato or 
less water. Many think it an improvement to 
mix one teaspoon of sifted ginger with the flour, 
sugar, and salt. The hops and ginger will make 
the yeast dark-colored, but it will not be per- 
ceptible in the bread. 

There are other ways of making yeast, but 
none that possess any advantage over the raw- 
potato yeast just given. 

Bread 

Give us this day our daily bread.— Matthew 6: 11. 

Wheat is the greatest and most important of all 
foods. About one hundred million tons are 
grown in the world every year, yet a third of 
this immense amount is wasted in the milling of 
white flour. For every pound of wheat that is 
milled, a third of a pound is wasted in order to 
get the flour white. This third that is wasted 
contains all the vital elements of the grain, and 
for the need of these missing elements millions 
have suffered the severest penalty. 

Nature has provided in a grain of wheat fifteen 
important elements that are needed properly to 
nourish the human body. There is no sense in 
removing ten or twelve of these elements in mill- 
ing simply to produce a product that is pleasing 



78 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

to the eye. Food value is what is needed, not 
color. 

The fibrous part of the entire wheat is very 
important as a laxative in the food. The outer 
covering of a grain of wheat is Nature's remedy 
for constipation. 

How true it is that vanity sometimes has more 
to do with the high cost of living than other 
conditions. 

Water Bread 

2 quarts sifted {new-process) flour 

1 teaspoon salt 

1 tablespoon sugar 

1 tablespoon butter, or lard 

V2 cup liquid yeast, or, 

Yi. cake compressed yeast, dissolved in Y^ cup water 

1 pint lukewarm water 

Sift the flour, and fill the measure lightly. 
Turn it into a large bowl holding about four 
quarts. Reserve one cup of flour to add at the 
last if needed, and to use on the board. Mix the 
salt and sugar with the flour ; rub in the shorten- 
ing until fine, like meal. Mix the yeast with the 
water. If compressed yeast is used, dissolve a 
half of a cake in half a cup of water. This is 
in addition to the pint of water to be used in 
mixing. Pour the liquid mixture into the center 
of the flour, mixing it well with a strong spoon. 
Scrape the dry flour from the sides and bottom 



^AND THEIR LOW COSTS 79 

of the bowl, and turn the mass over and over 
until no dry flour is left. If too soft to handle 
easily, add a little more of the reserved cup of 
flour. If too stiff, add more water. Knead for 
half an hour or until perfectly smooth. Cover 
and let it rise until it doubles its bulk. Cut it 
down, by bringing a knife up through the dough ; 
let it rise again. Divide into four parts, then 
shape into loaves, putting two in each pan, or re- 
serve some for biscuit. Cover and let it rise again 
to the top of the pan. Bake in a hot oven for 
nearly an hour. 

Milk Bread 

1 pint milk, scalded and cooled 

1 tablespoon butter, melted in the hot milk 

1 tablespoon sugar 

^ teaspoon salt 

y2 cup yeast 

6 or 7 cups flour 

Measure the milk after scalding, and put it in 

the mixing bowl ; add the butter, sugar, and salt. 

When cool, add the yeast, and then stir in the 

flour, adding it gradually after five cups are in, 

that it may not be too stiff. Use just enough to 

knead it. Knead until smooth and elastic. 

Cover; let it rise till light; cut it down; divide 

into four parts ; shape into loaves or biscuit. Let 

it rise again in the pans. Bake forty or fifty 

minutes. 



8o TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Parker House Rolls 

1 pint boiling milk Y^ cup sugar 

1 tablespoon lard J^ yeast cake 

Put in a bowl and thicken as thick as griddle 
cakes. Do this early in the morning and let be 
until noon, then stiffen with flour and let rise 
until four or five o'clock. Then knead and roll 
out about a half-inch thick and spread with warm 
butter. Then cut in cakes and let rise another 
hour. Bake. 



CHAPTER XVII 
Something about Breads 

With good bread or rolls for her table the 
housewife may laugh at unexpected company; 
but without these nothing, however fine, will 
make a pleasant meal. 

Raisin Bread 
Place a pint of milk and a pint of water in a 
saucepan and bring to the boiling point. Cool 
until lukewarm, then add a cake of yeast, dis- 
solved in a half cup of lukewarm water. Add 
four cups of flour and a teaspoon of sugar. Beat 
well and let stand to rise. When very light add : 

Yz cup sugar 2 tablespoons butter 

1 teaspoon salt 2 eggs 

1 cup raisins 

Knead with flour enough to handle well, form 
into loaves and bake when the loaves are more 
than double in bulk. Bake forty-five minutes. 

Coffee Cake 
To make the sponge, take a cup of milk, two 
teaspoons of sugar, a half yeast cake dissolved in 
a fourth of a cup of water, two cups of flour. 



82 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Beat well and let stand until light, or better over 

night. Add : 

y2.cup melted butter 2 beaten eggs 

y2 cup sugar 1 teaspoonful salt 

y2 cup milk 
3 or 4 cups flour, to make a dough to knead 

Let rise again until light, spread with softened 
butter, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon, and 
when light bake in a moderate oven. 

Tea Rolls 

Add two cups of flour to a cup of scalded milk 

when it is lukewarm, beat well, and add a yeast 

cake softened in a quarter of a cup of water. 

When well risen, add: 

% cup melted butter 2 eggs 

1 teaspoon salt A grating of nutmeg 

2 more cups flour 

Knead well and let rise in a warm place. Shape 

into small rolls, put into a buttered pan and set 

to rise, well covered. Bake in a hot oven fifteen 

minutes. 

Nut Cakes 
Beat two eggs and stir into them a cup of light 
brown sugar and two tablespoons of flour. Add 
a cup of nut meats chopped fine. Spread the 
mixture in a very thin layer on a well-greased tin 
and bake ten minutes, or until lightly browned. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 83 

Maple Brown Bread 

1% cups rye meal 1 cup pure maple syrup 

1^ cups corn meal 1 heaping tablespoon 

IH cups graham flour shortening 

1 level teaspoon salt 
1 rounding tablespoon baking-powder 

Add hot water to make consistency of ordinary 

brown bread. Steam at least three hours. 

Oatmeal Bread 
Scald one cup of rolled oats with one and one- 
half cups of boiling water. Let stand until part- 
ly cool, then add : 

\}/2 teaspoons salt 1 scant cup molasses 

1 cup milk 
1 yeast cake, dissolved in 54 cup warm water 

Add enough bread flour to mould. Mould and 
let rise over night. In the morning mould again, 
divide into three loaves; let rise until about 
doubled in size, and bake about forty-five min- 
utes in medium oven. 

Rye Bread 

1 pint rye flour 1 teaspoon salt 

Yz pint corn meal 2 teaspoons baking- 

Yz pint flour powder 

1 tablespoon butter 
}i pint milk 

Sift rye flour, corn meal, flour, sugar, and salt 

together, and powder. Rub in butter, add milk, 

and stir thoroughly. Bake in moderate oven 

forty-five minutes. 



84 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Scotch Scones 

2 cups rolled oats ^ cup sugar 

1 cup wheat flour % teaspoon salt 

^ teaspoon saleratus 

Mix dry in a bowl, add two rounding table- 
spoons of drippings, or lard, or butter. These in- 
gredients must be thoroughly rubbed together for 
several moments until very fine. Add enough 
sour milk to make a dough sufficiently hard to 
roll. This should be thoroughly kneaded, rolled 
thin, and cut into desired shape with a sharp 
knife or cutter. Place on pan in a moderately 
quick oven and bake a nice brown. When cool, 
these should be fine and crisp. 

Graham Muffins 

2 cups graham flour 1 cup water 

1 cup white flour 2 tablespoons molasses 

1 cup sour milk 1 teaspoon soda 

1 egg 

If you use sweet milk, omit the soda and use 
two level teaspoons of baking powder. 

Cream Muffins 
Cream a half cup of butter with a fourth cup 
of sugar; add a beaten egg. Sift together. 

2 cups flour 3 teaspoons baking- 

3 teaspoons baking powder 

Yz teaspoon salt 

Add these to the first mixture alternately with 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 85 

three-fourths of a cup of milk. Stir in a cup of 
stewed, stoned prunes which have been cut in 
pieces. Bake in warm, buttered muffin pans. 

Rice Muffins 
Sift three cups of fiour with four teaspoons of 
baking powder, one teaspoon of salt, and two- 
thirds of a cup of sugar. Add: 

2 eggs, well beaten ^ cup melted shortening 

Yz cup cooked rice Y^ cup currants 

IVs cups water 

Mix well and bake in hot, buttered muffin pans. 
Scotch Short-bread 

2 cups bread flour Yz. cup light brown 

1 cup butter sugar 

A few grains of mace 

Work all together with a spoon, fork, or the 
fingertips, until thoroughly blended. Line a shal- 
low, round, or square pan with paper, and pat in 
the short-bread about an inch thick. Bake in a 
moderate oven until delicately brown, about 
thirty minutes, and when half cool, mark in 
squares. 

Breakfast Muffins 
Dissolve half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda 
in a tablespoon of warm water, and add it to a 
half pint of thick sour milk. Separate two eggs, 



86 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

beat the yolks, add the sour milk, and stir in 
quickly one and a half cups of flour and a half 
teaspoon of salt. Beat thoroughly, and fold in 
the well-beaten whites of the eggs. Bake in 
greased muffin pans, in a quick oven, twenty min- 
utes. 

Digestibility of Different Kinds of Bread 

The question is often asked, ''What kind of 
bread furnishes the greatest amount of digestible 
nutrients ?" 

Among the earliest and most famous experi- 
ments made to test this question are those con- 
ducted by Meyer and Voit, of Munich, about 
forty years ago. They used different kinds of rye 
and wheat bread, and reached the conclusion, 
which all later work has verified, that the digest- 
ibility of bread depends upon its lightness. 

The work done at the Maine and Minnesota 
experiment stations throws much light on the 
comparative value of different kinds of bread. 
Many experiments were made to learn how gra- 
ham, entire wheat, and patent flours compare in 
digestibility. The flours used in these compari- 
sons were milled from the same lots of wheat, 
and mixed and baked in the same way. 

The results all show that patent flour yields to 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 87 

the body a larger proportion of its nutrients than 
the kinds which include more or less of the bran. 
Of the protein in bread made from standard 
patent flour, ^^.6 per cent was found to be actu- 
ally utilized by the body, as against 82 per cent 
from entire wheat and 74.9 from graham. Of 
the carbohydrates, 97.7 per cent from the stand- 
ard patent, 93.5 per cent from the entire wheat, 
and 89.2 per cent from graham were utilized. Ap- 
parently, then, as regards the digestibility of the 
more important nutrients, the patent flours are 
superior to those containing bran. It is interest- 
ing to notice that the digestibility of these three 
kinds of bread varies in the same order as the 
lightness of the loaves. The patent flour makes 
the most porous loaf, next comes the entire 
wheat, and last of all the graham. 

The claim is made that the coarser flours, 
owing to the particles of bran or some other prop- 
erty, often increase the peristaltic action of the in- 
testine and thus tend to prevent constipation. 
This to a certain extent is true, but the claim of 
superiority on the basis of nutritive value is not 
warranted. Certainly no plea can be made for 
them on the ground of economy, for entire wheat 
and graham flours are not cheaper than white 
flour. 



88 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Experiments similar to those with the flours 
mentioned have been made with different grades 
of patent flours. It was found that the percent- 
ages of digestibiHty differed very httle, and that 
as far as nutritive value is concerned the cheaper 
grades are fully as good as the more expensive. 
The bread made from them is as light as that 
from the finer flours, but not quite so white and 
appetizing. Where rigid economy is necessary 
the cheaper grades can be safely used. 

When the selling price of bread and the cost of 
its ingredients are compared, the results are quite 
striking. In two experiments made in New Jer- 
sey it was found that two lots of bread made from 
materials costing, respectively, $2.28 and $2.56, 
were sold for $5.86 and $6.08. This represents a 
profit of 1 16.5 per cent over the cost of the ma- 
terials, or, to put it in dollars and cents, the baker 
received $216.50 for bread the materials of which 
cost him $100. In Pittsburgh the average in- 
crease in price over the original cost was no per 
cent. Even subtracting from this the cost of 
labor, rent, fuel, etc., the profits of the baker were 
so high that, to quote from the Pittsburgh report : 

"It would seem that in the case of very poor families 
an important pecuniary saving would result if bread were 
made at home. To the man in ordinary circumstances it 
must always be more a question of convenience and taste 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 89 

than of cost. In short, each family can best determine for 
itself whether it is desirable to pay the baker for the 
trouble of making the bread and delivering it, or whether 
the labor of making and the extra fuel for baking can 
best be provided at home." 

Hot Bread 
Statements of a popular nature are frequently 
met with regarding the unwholesomeness of hot 
bread. The fact that bread is hot has doubtless 
little to do with the matter. New bread, especially 
that from a large loaf, may be readily compressed 
into more or less solid masses, and it is possible 
that such bread would be much less finely masti- 
cated than crumbly, stale bread, and that, there- 
fore, it might offer more resistance to the digest- 
ive juices of the stomach. However, with such 
hot bread as rolls, biscuit, and like forms, in 
which the crust is very large in proportion to the 
crumb, this objection has much less force. There 
is then little difficulty in masticating the crumb, 
and it is doubtless usually finely divided. The 
advantages of toast for invalids is often said to 
lie in the fact that the carbohydrates have been 
changed into more soluble form by the extra heat- 
ing. Only the outer layers are thus changed, how- 
ever, unless the bread is dried and browned 
throughout. If there is any advantage it probably 
comes from the more appetizing flavor of the 



90 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

toasted bread and the fact that it is more likely 
to be thoroughly masticated. 

The lightness and sweetness of bread depend as 
much on the way in which it is made as on the 
materials used. The greatest care should be used 
in preparing and baking the dough, and in cook- 
ing and keeping the finished bread. Heavy, badly 
raised bread is a very dangerous food, and un- 
fortunately very common, and probably more in- 
digestion has been caused by it than by all other 
badly cooked foods. 

As compared with most meats and vegetables, 
bread has practically no waste and is very com- 
pletely digested. It is usually too poor in protein 
to be fittingly used alone, but when eaten with due 
quantities of other foods it is invaluable, and well 
deserves its title of ''the staff of life." 



CHAPTER XVIII 
Fish 

Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. 
Why, as men do a-land : the great ones eat up the little 
ones. — Shakespeare : Pericles. 

Fish, on account of its abundance, cheapness, 
and wholesomeness, is invaluable as an article of 
food. It contains less solid matter and more wa- 
ter than meat, and consequently may be said to be 
less nutritious and less stimulating. However, as 
it contains little fat — the white varieties par- 
ticularly — it is easily digested, and as it has a 
large proportion of nitrogenous material, it is 
especially adapted to all those upon whom there 
are great demands for nervous energy. 

Salmon heads the list *'of whatsoever hath 
scales and fins" in nutritive qualities, and it is 
richer than meat. The next in value are fat hali- 
but, shad, whitefish, mackerel, bluefish, lean hali- 
but, bass, flounder, trout, cod, haddock, cusk, etc. 

Red-blooded fish, like salmon, mackerel, and 
bluefish, have the oil distributed through the body. 
They are very nutritious for those who can digest 
them, but are too rich and oily for invalids. 



92 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

White fish, Hke flounder, halibut, cod, and had- 
dock, have the oil in the liver, and are more easily- 
digested. Fish should be perfectly fresh and 
thoroughly cooked, or it will be not only indigest- 
ible but sometimes poisonous. 

All varieties of fish need an accompaniment of 
starchy foods, like bread and potatoes ; and white 
fish need beside to be cooked with butter or fat to 
make them desirable as food. The juices of fish, 
shellfish particularly, are of an alkaline nature, 
and this renders lemon juice or vinegar a desir- 
able condiment as a neutralizing agency. 

Frozen fish should always be thawed in cold 
water. 

It is surprising how few people understand the 
preparation of salt fish in the making of fish balls, 
or fish and potatoes. The method here given is 
that in use by the housewives of Cape Cod, who 
certainly are adepts in the art of cooking fish. 

Fish and Potatoes 
Remove the skin from a salt fish, cut it in pieces, 
and soak it in water over night. It should not be 
boiled an instant; boiling renders it hard and 
tough. It should lie in scalding hot water two or 
three hours. The less water that is used and the 
more fish cooked at once, the better. Serve with 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 93 

boiled potatoes, and sauce made of milk thickened 
with flour and milk while boiling. Butter should 
be put in to melt, or, if one prefers, use salt- 
pork fat. 

Fish Balls 
Cook the fish as above. Chop fine and mix 
with hot mashed potato. Add a spoonful of but- 
ter and salt-pork fat, also a little pepper. Knead 
together and make into balls. Dip them in beaten 
tgg and fry brown. 

Lobster a la Newburg 
Cook two cups of lobster meat in three table- 
spoons of butter for three minutes. Add salt, 
pepper, and one cup of cream, and cook for five 
minutes. Add one ^gg, or two tgg yolks, slightly 
beaten, and cook until it thickens. One table- 
spoon of Sherry may be used for flavoring. 

Boiling is the most wasteful way of cooking 
fish, and also the most insipid. To make a boiled 
fish palatable, a rich sauce is needed for all kinds 
except salmon and bluefish. Salmon is very much 
richer and more oily than other fish, and for this 
reason it is not injured by boiling. 

Salmon, bluefish, or a thick piece of halibut are 
preferable for boiling. Cod and haddock, unless 



94 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

perfectly fresh, are very apt to break or fall to 
pieces in boiling. 

Six minutes should be allowed for each pound 
in boiling. A fish is properly cooked when the 
flesh separates easily from the bones. 

If the fish breaks when boiling, remove the 
bones at once, lay the fish on a platter, and pour 
the sauce over it. 

A very good way of boiling fish is to steep it 
for a few minutes in boiling water which has been 
quite strongly salted, and to which has been added 
two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice ; then put it into 
fresh boiling water without salt or lemon juice, 
and cook until done. This tends to prevent the 
fish from breaking, and gives to the meat a fresh 
white look. 

A large cod or any whole fish too large for a 
small family may be economically used as fol- 
lows : Remove the skin and bones from the thick- 
est part; stuff and bake. Use the bones and head 
for a chowder. Cut the tail end into slices, salt 
well, and fry or broil them. 

Cod, haddock, cusk, bluefish, salmon, bass, and 
shad may be stuffed and baked whole. 

Fish bake more evenly and brown better if 
placed upright in the pan instead of on one side. 
If difficulty is found in keeping them in this posi- 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 95 

tion they may be kept in place by propping with 
stale bread or pared potatoes. If the fish is long 
and narrow it may be tied into the shape of the 
letter S. To do this run a threaded trussing- 
needle through the head, middle of the body, and 
tail; then draw the string tight, and fasten the 
ends. Fish prepared in this manner will retain 
their shape after baking. 

In frying pan fish, they should be thoroughly 
cleaned and dried, seasoned with salt and pepper, 
and covered first with flour or fine bread crumbs, 
then dipped in beaten tgg, then in crumbs again. 
This should be repeated until they are covered 
completely. 

Stuffing for Baked Fish 

1 cup cracker crumbs 1 teaspoon chopped 
1 saltspoon salt parsley 

1 saltspoon pepper 1 teaspoonful capers 

1 teaspoon chopped 1 teaspoonful pickles 

onion J4 c^P melted butter 

This makes a dry, crumbly stuf^ng. If a moist 

stufBng is preferred, use stale bread crumbs, and 

moisten with one beaten Qgg and the butter; or 

moisten the crackers with warm water. 

Plain Lobster 
The simplest way of serving lobster is by many 
considered the best. Remove the meat from the 



96 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

shell, and arrange in a tasteful manner, or cut in 
small pieces. Let each person season to taste 
with salt, pepper, vinegar, and oil, or melted 
butter. 

Lobster Bisque 

2 pounds lobster 1 teaspoon salt 

1 quart milk A shake of pepper 

1 tablespoon flour 1 pint water 

Cut the tender pieces of lobster into one- 
quarter inch dice, put the claw meat and any 
tough part in a pint of cold water, boil twenty 
minutes, and add water as it is boiled away. Boil 
a quart of milk, thicken with the butter and flour, 
boil ten minutes, add the lobster meat to the milk 
with the pepper and salt, and pour over the dice 
in a tureen. 

The Lobster and Milk Terror 
How many times is the question asked, "Why 
cannot lobster and milk be eaten together ? What 
makes this combination so injurious?" 

The answer is that they can be eaten together 
— if both the lobster and the milk are perfectly 
fresh. There are no poisons formed by this com- 
bination. On the New England coast, lobsters, 
crabs, and fish are constantly eaten with milk and 
cream sauces. The only foundation for this 
rumor is the fact that both lobster and milk are 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 97 

subject to rapid and dangerous deterioration, and 
taken together a person stands a double chance of 
being poisoned. Lobster salad by itself is a tax 
on the digestive organs of any one, and ice-cream 
checks digestion by its coolness. 

There can be no reasonable excuse for the sale 
of cold-storage fish after April first. The fishing 
season is then open almost everywhere, and if 
fresh fish cannot be had at that season, it is better 
to do without any. 

Fish should be slaughtered at the time they are 
taken and not allowed to die from suffocation, as 
in the suffocating fish there are developed poison- 
ous products, which are injurious to flavor and 
wholesomeness. Fish that have their throats cut 
and are thoroughly bled at the time they are 
taken, and are also properly cleaned, will keep 
sweet and wholesome for a long time. 



CHAPTER XIX 

Salads 

Salads are an easy way of disposing of various 
odds and ends of cooked vegetables, fish, or meat. 

Fresh lettuce, roumaine, cabbage, cress, and 
celery, also fruits, combined with salad dressing, 
furnish many appetizing and useful dishes. 

The oil which enters into these dressings is one 
of the best forms of fat we can use and aids in 
digestion. 

There are three principal salad dressings — 
French, boiled, and mayonnaise. 

French Dressing 

1 saltspoon salt % teaspoon onion juice 

V2 saltspoon pepper 1 tablespoon vinegar 
3 tablespoons olive oil 

Mix in order given, adding the oil slowly. 

This dressing is suitable for vegetable and tgg 
salads, and is also used to marinate and pickle a 
meat or fish salad. The onion may be omitted, 
and lemon juice used instead of vinegar. A tea- 
spoon of prepared mustard added to a French 
dressing is liked by many. 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 99 

Boiled Dressing 

Yolks of 3 eggs beaten 2 tablespoons melted butter 

1 teaspoon mustard or oil 

2 teaspoons salt 1 cup cream or milk 
Ya, saltspoon cayenne V2 cup hot vinegar 

2 tablespoons sugar Whites of 3 eggs^ beaten stiff 

Cook in double boiler until it thickens like soft 
custard. Stir well. This will keep in a cool place 
two weeks. Excellent for lettuce, celery, aspar- 
agus, string beans, and cauliflower. 

Boiled Dressing for Cold Slaw. 

Vz cup vinegar V2 teaspoon salt 

2 teaspoons sugar Y teaspoon mustard 

Yz saltspoon pepper 

Boil the above, rub a quarter of a cup of butter 
to a cream with one teaspoon of flour, and pour 
the boiling vinegar on it. Cook five minutes and 
pour over the yolk of one well-beaten ^gg. Mix 
while hot with one pint of red cabbage, shaved or 
chopped, or with a mixed vegetable salad. 

Mayonnaise Dressing 

1 teaspoon mustard Yolks of 2 raw eggs 

1 teaspoon powdered 1 pint olive oil 

sugar 2 tablespoons vinegar 

V2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons lemon 
% saltspoon cayenne juice 

Mix the first four ingredients in a small bowl, 
add the eggs, stir well with a spoon. Add the 
oil, a few drops at a time, stirring until it thickens. 



lOO TRUE FOOD VALUES 

If by chance you add too much oil, do not attempt 
to stir it all in at once, but take it up gradually. 
When the dressing is thick, thin it with a little 
lemon juice, then add oil and lemon alternately, 
and lastly the vinegar. When ready to serve add 
half a cup of whipped cream, if you like. The 
cream makes it whiter and thinner. The oil 
should thicken the tgg almost immediately, and 
the mixture should be thick enough to take up in 
a ball on the spoon before adding the vinegar. 
Should the tgg be slow in thickening and have a 
curdled appearance, half a teaspoon of the un- 
beaten white of tgg or a few drops of vinegar 
will often restore the smooth consistency. Be 
careful not to use too much, as it will make the 
dressing thin. The dressing liquefies as soon as 
mixed with vegetables or meat; therefore it 
should be made stiff enough to keep in shape until 
used. 

Lobster coral, dried and pounded to a powder, 
will give mayonnaise a bright, red color. Spinach 
green, green peas mashed, or chopped parsley will 
color it green. Never mix the mayonnaise dress- 
ing with the meat or fish until ready to serve, and 
then only part of it, and spread the remainder 
over the top. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS loi 

The following salads are good and inexpen- 
sive; the latter fact will in these times make 
them none the less desirable as an article of diet 
possessing a certain amount of food value. 

Lettuce Salad 
Pick over and wash each leaf, draining off the 
water between two towels. Arrange the leaves in 
a salad bowel, the larger ones around the edge 
and the smaller in the center. Serve with boiled 
dressing or French dressing, or sugar, salt, and 
vinegar to taste. Never cut the leaves, as that 
causes them to wilt quickly, but tear them apart. 

German Potato Salad 
Take five or six medium-sized boiled potatoes, 
slice thin one-quarter of an onion; chop all fine. 
Pour over this two tablespoons olive oil, three of 
vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste. Add a little 
chopped parsley or celery salt. Mix all together ; 
let stand one hour before serving. 

Cabbage Salad 

Take medium-sized head of white cabbage, cut 

in shreds or fine strips, add salt, set in a cool 

place. 

6 tablespoons vinegar 1 teaspoon made mustard 
2 teaspoons sugar 2 eggs 

Butter size of an egg 



I02 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Beat all together and steam over kettle. Put 
cabbage and dressing together, tossing up lightly 
with fork. Eat when cool. 

Egg Salad 
Boil as many eggs as you wish, shell and cut in 
halves. Take out yolks and mash with a little 
butter and pepper. Put back into whites. Fill 
glass dish with lettuce leaves, and lay the eggs on 
these. As you serve in small dishes pour over 
salad dressing. 

Mayonnaise Fish 
Take a pound or so of cold boiled fish — halibut, 
rock, or cod — cut into pieces an inch in length. 
Mix in a bowl a dressing as follows : The yolks 
of four boiled eggs rubbed to a smooth paste with 
salad oil or butter. Add to these salt, pepper, 
mustard, two teaspoons of white sugar, and lastly 
six tablespoons of vinegar. Beat the mixture until 
light, and just before pouring it over the fish stir 
in lightly the frothed white of a raw tgg. Serve 
the fish with half the dressing stirred in with it, 
spread the remainder over the top, and lay lettuce 
leaves (from the core of the head of lettuce) 
around the edges. 

To one that is studying economy as Well as 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 103 

efficiency in diet, the use of salads is especially 
important in adding bulk to a meal that has a 
main dish of concentrated nourishment. By con- 
centrated nourishment we mean a meal or food 
the whole of which is practically digestible, with- 
out reference to the amount of nourishment it 
actually contains. For instance, a loaf of brown 
bread contains more heat value than a pound of 
eggs, but it contains a large amount of indigest- 
ible material, while the entire ^gg may be said to 
be digestible. 

Another valuable use of the salad is that it fur- 
nishes m.ineral salts and an acid to the system, 
making it a real aid to digestion. Nature is a wise 
physician in furnishing the actual organic cam- 
pounds of such minerals as the system requires, 
and seems to be the only chemist that can make 
them. 

Any green salad plant that is in season may be 
used. They are all rich in the mineral salts and 
vegetable acids that the system craves, and are in 
just the form required. 



CHAPTER XX 
A Word about Potatoes 

The potato is a starchy food that cotitains 
enough moisture in its composition to cook the 
starch. This moisture is in the form of a watery- 
juice, in which is dissolved the nitrogenous mat- 
ter, the various salts, sugar, gum, etc. The starch 
cells are surrounded and penetrated by this watery 
bath. In cooking, the nitrogenous juice is 
coagulated, in part at least, by the heat, the starch 
granules swell and burst, and the starch absorbs 
the watery part of the juice. When this stage is 
reached, if the moisture has been in the right pro- 
portion, all parts of the potato will present a light, 
dry, glistening appearance. Every one concedes 
that such a potato will not cause digestive disturb- 
ance. However, the moisture is not always in the 
right proportion. Ripe potatoes and potatoes 
grown on a well-drained or sandy soil will, as a 
rule, be dry and mealy if properly cooked. Pota- 
toes grown in a wet season or in a heavy, damp 
soil as a rule contain too large a proportion of 
moisture for the starch'. Old potatoes that are 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 105 

allowed to sprout will be watery, probably owing 
to the withdrawal of some of the starch for food 
for the growing sprouts. 

A poisonous substance called "solanin" is 
found in or near the skin of potatoes which have 
grown exposed to the sun or a strong light. 
Solanin also develops when potatoes are allowed 
to sprout, and serious illness has been known to 
follow the eating of exposed and sprouted pota- 
toes. The green color which a potato exposed to 
a strong light takes on is largely due to the grains 
of chlorophyll developed in the parts of the tuber 
exposed to the light. The strong flavor is probably 
due to some substance which develops along with 
the chlorophyll. It will be seen that potatoes in- 
tended for the table should not be exposed to 
strong light or be allowed to sprout. 

Potatoes cooked in dry heat, as by baking in 
the oven, roasting in ashes, frying in deep fat, or 
steaming in their jackets, retain all their salts and 
other constituents, and the flavor is more pro- 
nounced and savory than when cooked in water. 
Potatoes so cooked, however, must be served just 
as soon as they are done, or else they will become 
soggy and bad flavored. 

Potatoes cooked in the skin should be free from 
any blemish and washed absolutely clean. Old 



io6 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

potatoes, that is, potatoes that are kept into the 
spring and early summer, are better for being 
soaked in cold water and peeled before cooking. 

Boiled Potatoes 

The method and time for boiling potatoes are 
the same whether the potato be peeled, partially 
peeled, or left with the skin intact. If a dozen or 
two ordinary sized potatoes are put on the fire 
in a large stewpan, and are covered generously 
with boiling water and a cover is immediately put 
on the stewpan, they will be cooked to the proper 
point in thirty minutes from the time the cover 
was put on the stewpan. Small potatoes will cook 
in two minutes less time, and very large potatoes 
will require about thirty-five minutes' cooking. 

If the potatoes are to be boiled in their skins, 
wash them until clean and then with a sharp knife 
cut a narrow band of the skin from the center of 
the potato. Cut a little bit of skin from each end 
of the potato. If the potatoes are to be peeled, 
use a very sharp knife and remove the thinnest 
possible layer. The skins may be scraped off, if 
preferred. There are special knives for this pur- 
pose. Let the potatoes boil fifteen minutes, then 
add one tablespoon of salt for every dozen pota- 
toes. When the potatoes have been cooking thirty 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 107 

minutes, drairi off every drop of water and let all 
the steam pass off. They are now ready to serve, 
though they will not be injured but, in fact, will 
be improved by being kept hot for an hour or 
more, if they are well ventilated in such a way 
that they dry rather than retain moisture. 

When boiled or steamed potatoes must be kept 
warm for any length of time, place the stewpan 
on the range on a tripod or iron ring, and cover 
the potatoes with one thickness of cheese cloth. 
This will protect them from the cold air and allow 
the moisture to pass off. 

Baked Potatoes 
Select potatoes having a smooth, unmarred 
surface. Wash perfectly clean and let them drain. 
Put them in an old baking-pan kept for this pur- 
pose — do not crowd them — and put in a hot oven. 
If the oven is large and hot and the potatoes of 
medium size, forty minutes will answer for the 
cooking. On the other hand, if the oven is filled 
with cold potatoes, the temperature of the oven 
will be reduced quickly and it will require an hour 
to cook the potatoes. Baked potatoes should be 
served as soon as they are done. If they must be 
kept any time after the cooking is completed, 
break them in order that the moisture may escape. 



io8 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Keep them irv a warm oven or covered with 
cheese cloth in a stewpan. 

A Word about Spinach 
Spinach has little food value, but its refreshing 
and slightly laxative qualities make it a valuable 
adjunct to the more substantial foods. It con- 
tains little starch and only a suggestion of sugar, 
and is therefore one of the vegetables that phy- 
sicians include in the bill of fare of many invalids 
who require a diet without these carbohydrates. 
Like most other vegetables, it is rarely cooked 
to perfection, yet it is not difficult to prepare. 
Except for special reasons the simplest methods 
are the best for this vegetable. No matter how 
cheap the raw spinach may be, it is always expen- 
sive in two things — labor and butter. It takes a 
good deal of time, water, and patience to wash it 
clean, and no other vegetable requires so much 
butter if it is to be at its best. Where strict 
economy must be practiced, sweet drippings from 
roast beef or chicken may be substituted for the 
butter. 

The spinach should be thoroughly washed in 
clean waters until there is not a trace of sand on 
the bottom of the pan in which the vegetable is 
washed. If the spinach is at all wilted, let it stand 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 109 

in cold water until it becomes fresh and crisp. 
Drain from this water and blanch. For half a peck 
of spinach have in a large saucepan three quarts 
of boiling water and a tablespoon of salt. Put 
the drained spinach in the boiling water and let it 
boil ten minutes, counting from the time it begins 
to boil. When it begins to boil, draw the cover 
of the saucepan a little to one side to allow the 
steam to escape. At the end of ten minutes pour 
the spinach into a colander, and when the hot 
water has passed off pour cold water over it. Let 
it drain well, and mince coarse or fine, as is suit- 
able for the manner in which it is to be served. 

One peck of spinach will make about one and 
one-half pints when blanched and minced. 

Spinach Cooked without Water 
Fresh spinach, when washed, holds enough 
water for cooking. Put the spinach in a stewpan 
and on the fire; cover and cook for ten minutes. 
Press down and turn over several times during 
the cooking. At the end of ten minutes turn the 
spinach into a chopping bowl, and mince rather 
fine. Return to the stewpan and add the season- 
ings, allowing for half a peck of spinach two 
generous tablespoons of butter and a teaspoon of 
salt. Simmer for ten minutes ; or, if very tender, 
five minutes will be sufficient. 



no TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Spinach cooked in this manner will retain all 
its salts. It will be more laxative and the flavor 
stronger than when blanched (boiled in water). 
In young, tender spinach this is not objectionable, 
but when the overgrown vegetable is cooked in its 
own moisture, the flavor is strong and somewhat 
acrid. 

A Word about Cabbage. 

Because of the relatively large amount of sul- 
phur which cabbage contains, it is apt to be in- 
digestible and cause flatulence when it is im- 
properly cooked. On the other hand, it can be 
cooked so that it will be delicate and digestible. 
It is one of our most useful vegetables, being 
available during the late fall, winter, and spring 
months, when other green vegetables are difficult 
to procure. The quickest and simplest methods of 
cooking cabbage are the best. The essentials for 
the proper cooking of this vegetable are : Plenty 
of boiling water, a hot fire to keep the water boil- 
ing all the time, and thorough ventilation, that 
the strong-smelling gases, liberated by the high 
temperature, may be carried off in the steam. 

Young cabbage will cook in twenty-five or 
thirty minutes ; late in the winter it may require 
forty-five minutes. The vegetable when done 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS iii 

should be crisp and tender, any green portion 
should retain the color, and the white portion 
should be white and not yellow or brown. Over- 
cooked cabbage or cauliflower is more or less yel- 
low, has a strong flavor, and is very inferior to 
the same dish properly cooked. In addition, over- 
cooking is a cause of digestive disturbance. 

The Proper Way to Boil Cabbage 
Cut a small head of cabbage into four parts, 
cutting down through the stock. Soak for half 
an hour in a pan of cold water to which has been 
added a tablespoon of salt ; this is to draw out any 
insects that may be hidden in the leaves. Take 
from the water and cut into slices. Have a large 
stewpan half full of boiling water; put in the 
cabbage, pushing it under the water with a spoon. 
Add one tablespoon of salt and cook from twenty- 
five to forty-five minutes, depending upon the age 
of the cabbage. Turn into a colander and drain 
for about two minutes. Put into a chopping bowl 
and mince. Season with butter, pepper, and more 
salt if it requires it. Allow a tablespoon of butter 
to a generous pint of the cooked vegetable. Cab^ 
bage cooked in this manner will be of delicate, 
flavor and may be generally eaten without 
distress. Have the kitchen windows open at the 



112 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

top while the cabbage is boiling, and there will be 
little if any odor of cabbage in the house. 

Cabbage Cooked with Pork 
For a small head of cabbage use about half a 
pound of mixed salt pork. Boil the pork gently 
for three or four hours. Prepare the cabbage the 
same as for plain boiling. Drain well and put on 
to boil with the pork. Boil rapidly for twenty- 
five or forty-five minutes. Serve the pork with 
the cabbage. The vegetable may require a little 
more salt. 

Smoked bacon or ham may be substituted for 
the pork. Cabbage may be cooked in water in 
which corned beef was boiled. 

Cabbage eaten with pork is an appetizing dish, 
contains a good amount of nourishment, and is 
not expensive. 

Creamed Cabbage 

1 pint boiled and minced 1 tablespoon butter 

cabbage 1 teaspoon flour 

Yt. pint hot milk Vi teaspoon salt 

V2 teaspoon pepper 

Put the cabbage, hot milk, salt, and pepper in a 
stewpan and on the fire. Beat the butter and flour 
together until creamy, then stir into the contents 
of the stewpan. Simmer ten minutes, being care- 
ful not to scorch the sauce. Serve very hot. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 113 

Cabbage, Norwegian Style 
Shave cabbage very fine, mix with it salt and 

pepper and sour cream to moisten well. Put in 

double boiler, and cook over boiling water until 

it melts down. Serve piping hot. 

It is claimed that cabbage is very digestible this 

way and that convalescents can eat it, prepared 

this way, without harm. 

Rice and Cabbage 
Wash some rice, let it simmer in hot water 
with a cabbage sliced up, for about an hour ; then 
strain off and put the rice and cabbage in a stew- 
pan with some butter, a little pepper and salt, and 
about one quarter of a grated nutmeg. Toss 
these about in the butter for ten or fifteen minutes 
over the fire, but do not let them turn color. Then 
add a small quantity of water and let stew until 
tender. Serve very hot with grated cheese on top. 

Waste in Preparing Vegetables 
In preparing vegetables for the table there is 
almost always a larger or smaller loss due to in- 
edible matter — skins, roots, seeds, etc. — and also 
a waste of good material, which is caused by care- 
less paring, etc., all these losses being grouped 
together under the name "refuse." The amount 
of refuse varies greatly in different vegetables, as 



114 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

shown by a large number of analyses of Amer- 
ican food materials by the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. The amount may be very 
small (seven per cent) in such vegetables as 
string beans; medium (ten to fifteen per cent), in 
such vegetables as onions, cabbage, leeks, lettuce, 
cucumbers; or high (fifty per cent) in such vege- 
tables as beans in pod, pumpkins, and squash. 
With tubers, such as potatoes, the average amount 
of refuse is twenty per cent, and with such roots 
as turnips, thirty per cent. 

In preparing vegetables for the table the careful 
cook will remove all inedible portions and will 
see to it that the total amount of refuse is as small 
as is consistent with good quality. Thin paring 
of potatoes and other vegetables is an economy 
which it is worth while to practice, and is an easy 
way of decreasing useless loss. 



CHAPTER XXI 
A Word about Tomatoes 

A half century ago the tomato was a scarce and 
expensive article. It was then known as the "love- 
apple," from its resemblance in form to the apple 
and its ardent color. In those days it was used 
largely for decorative purposes, and when used as 
a food it was customary to eat it as a fruit from 
the hand, sprinkling it lightly with salt or sugar. 

There was also a bit of superstition connected 
with its use as an article of food, many people be- 
lieving it to be unwholesome and productive of 
"humors," and for this reason eschewing it 
altogether. 

Now all this has changed. The physicians tell 
us the tomato possesses wonderful medical quali- 
ties, its acid acting as an alterative and tonic to 
the liver. Farmers in this- country produce them 
in immense quantities, while abroad the same tale 
is to be told. In fact, in Italy nearly every dish 
contains tomatoes in some form, or they are used 
as its decoration. 

If you have a large family, it is economy to buy 



ii6 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

tomatoes by the basket, keeping them in a dry, 
cool place, and sorting them over each day. In 
this way you can select large, firm ones for 
slicing, medium-sized ones for baking and frying, 
and the less desirables are used for stewing, 
flavoring, and sauces. 

The month of September is the best time for 
pickling and making ketchup, as the nights are 
cool and dewy, and the vegetable does not ripen 
so thoroughly or quickly. 

If you intend to can tomatoes — and you will if 
you practice economy — do them early, before 
they become watery and tasteless. It is imperative 
to have solid, good-flavored fruit for winter s use. 
A cheap, inferior article is expensive in the long 
run. 

Many housewives serve tomatoes daily during 
the season, varying the method of serving so as 
to have variety. Always keep a few on ice, as 
on hot days they make a most tempting and appe- 
tizing dish, provided they are ice-cold. 

Crush some ice very fine, put it in a deep dish, 
slice a few solid tomatoes and place them in the 
center. Mince together one-quarter of a green 
pepper, half an onion, and a little parsley, and 
spread over the top. Make a French dressing as 
follows : 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 117 

Put into a bowl a half teaspoon of salt, two 
dashes of black pepper and one of red, also a 
pinch of sugar. To this add four tablespoons of 
olive oil, a little at a time. With a silver fork 
beat this thoroughly and rapidly, then, drop by 
drop, add about two tablespoons of vinegar, or 
lemon juice, until an emulsion is formed. 

The seasoning of tomatoes varies with in- 
dividual taste. For general service, a small quan- 
tity of sugar is necessary to bring out the flavor 
and cut the acid, but too much sugar is to be 
avoided. 

Broiled Tomatoes 
Cut large, firm tomatoes in halves. Place them 
on a broiler, skin side up, season with salt and 
pepper, and cook them for about fifteen minutes 
over clear coals. Serve on a hot platter, with 
melted butter. 

Fried Tomatoes 
Cut into halves six medium-sized tomatoes. 
Spread themx on a platter, skin side down. 
Sprinkle them with flour, put a few bits of butter 
on each and some salt and pepper. Into a hot 
sauce pan of melted butter, or half lard and half 
butter, put the tomatoes, floured side down. Cook 
gently over a moderate fire for about thirty min- 



ii8 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

utes; before turning each piece, sprinkle the top 
with flour and seasoning. Use a cake turner if 
you wish success. Place them on a hot platter 
in the oven. Make a sauce of one tablespoon of 
butter, to which, when brown, add two table- 
spoons of flour, then a pint of milk or cream. 
Cook until smooth and thick, seasoning to taste. 
The sugar should be added last. 

Baked Tomatoes 
Select six large, firm tomatoes. Cut off the 
stems and scoop out the seeds. In a bowl mix 
one cup of stale bread crumbs, a teaspoon of 
onion, one of parsley, a dash of cayenne, and 
some salt and sugar. Moisten this mixture with 
some butter, stuff the tomatoes with it, put fine 
crumbs over the top of each and a bit of butter. 
Then place in a hot oven and bake for half an 
hour. A cream sauce can be made for these, if 
desired, using the recipe for fried tomato sauce. 

Scalloped Tomatoes 

Take a half dozen tomatoes, put a layer of 
these in the bottom of a baking dish, then a layer 
of bread crumbs, seasoning each to taste, then a 
layer of tomatoes, and so on until the dish is full. 
Put bits of butter on top of the dish and bake in a 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 119 

quick oven for twenty minutes. Serve in the 
casserole in which they are baked. 

Macaroni, rice, minced beef, lamb, and fish may 
be used in place of the bread crumbs, and each 
makes a delicious dinner dish. 



CHAPTER XXII 

Sweet Peppers 

Sweet peppers have recently become one of the 
most popular of vegetables. They certainly make 
very delectable dishes. In salads they are in- 
valuable, and many attractive side dishes have the 
pepper as their basis. 

The housewife should learn how to tell a sweet 
pepper from a hot one. There are two tests : 
First, by the smell ; second, b)^ cutting a piece off 
and touching it with the tongue. One taste will 
be sufficient, as the hot pepper is very strong and 
pungent, and it does not lose its strength in 
cooking. 

Sweet peppers are both red and green in color, 
and sometimes mixed. In selecting them for 
stuffing it is advisable to choose those that are 
not too long or too thin. The rounder they are 
the better they look when served. 

Sweet peppers are very popular for garnish- 
ing salads and flavoring creamed chicken. They 
may be combined with soft cream cheese and 
fashioned into balls. 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 121 

They make an excellent addition to fried toma- 
toes. Slice a few strips off a sweet pepper and 
put in the pan and you will be surprised at the 
effect produced. 

Sweet peppers combine nicely with minced 
ham. This may be made of the remainder of 
boiled or baked ham. Put the ham through a 
meat grinder ; also some sweet peppers. To three 
cups of meat, use one half cup of peppers. In a 
deep bowl mix the ham, peppers, and one table- 
spoon of parsley. Put this mixture into a deep 
baking-dish, sprinkle the top with bread crumbs 
and bits of butter, and bake in a quick oven for 
thirty minutes. 

Stuffed Peppers 
Select a half dozen sweet peppers. Cut the 
tops off and scoop out the seeds. Prepare a force- 
meat of one pint of chopped meat or shredded 
fish, one cup of mashed potatoes or a half cup of 
bread crumbs, a tablespoon of parsley, one tgg 
yolk, a dash of salt, and a few drops of onion 
juice. Boiled rice or macaroni may be used in 
place of the potatoes. Fill the peppers with the 
mixture, sprinkle bread crumbs on top, and bake 
in a hot oven for a half hour. They may be fried 
in deep fat if preferred. 



122 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Pepper Cups 
Cut a half dozen sweet peppers in halves. Re- 
move the seeds. Fill the cups with a mixture of 
two cups of tomatoes (with seeds squeezed out), 
two cups of bread crumbs, one tablespoon of pars- 
ley, pepper and salt, and a spoonful of sugar. 
Sprinkle bread crumbs on top, also a little butter, 
and bake in a hot oven for thirty minutes. 

Cheese Rings 
Use one jar of cream or pimento cheese. Beat 
this together with a little cream, a few nuts, and 
a pfnch of salt. Cut the top off a medium-sized 
pepper and fill it with the mixture. Let it stand 
for an hour or so, until the cheese is firm enough, 
then cut it down in thin slices. These pepper 
rings are very attractive, and garnish salads and 
meat dishes wonderfully well. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
Macaroni, Spaghetti, and Vermicelli 

These are made from wheaten flour mixed 
with a small quantity of water. Vermicelli is 
used in soup and puddings; macaroni and spa- 
ghetti are used as vegetables. 

Macaroni is a very nutritious and also an 
economical food, and should be used much more 
extensively than it is. It should never be washed, 
as the boiling water in cooking will better take off 
anything that needs to be removed. Alw^ays cook 
it in boiling salted water until tender, before serv- 
ing it in any way. Drain, and pour cold water 
over it to keep it from becoming pasty. 

Macaroni, No. i 
Break one quarter of a pound of macaroni into 
three-inch pieces, and put into three pints of boil- 
ing salted water. Boil twenty minutes, or until 
soft. Drain in a colander, and pour cold water 
through it to cleanse it and keep it from sticking. 
Cut into inch pieces. Lay the strips on a board, 
parallel to each other, and cut through them all at 
once. Put in a shallow baking-dish and cover 



124 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

with a white sauce (see page — ). Add half a 
teaspoon of salt. Mix two-thirds of a cup of fine 
cracker crumbs with a third of a cup of melted 
butter, and sprinkle over the top. Bake until the 
crumbs are brown. 

If cheese be liked with it, use half a cup of 
grated Parmesan or any other dry cheese. Put 
part of it with the macaroni, and mix the remain- 
der with the crumbs. 

Macaroni, No. 2 
Pour a white sauce over the macaroni, and 
serve the grated cheese on a separate dish. 

Macaroni, No. 3 
Mix two hard-boiled eggs, chopped fine, with 
the macaroni. Sprinkle each layer with salt and 
pepper, and add a little prepared mustard, if you 
wish. Cover with milk and buttered crumbs, and 
bake until the crumbs are brown. 

Spaghetti 

This is a variety of macaroni, only very much 
smaller in diameter. It is cooked the same as the 
ordinary macaroni, and served the same with 
cream or tomato sauce, cheese, and crumbs. 

Spaghetti may be served without cutting, if one 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 125 

is skilled in the art of winding it around the fork 
the same as the Italians do. 

Macaroni, if properly cooked, is certainly a 
very palatable dish, and is very nutritious. Where 
the cost of food is a question of importance to as 
many of us as it is at the present time, its use 
should be cultivated and appreciated. 

With the Italians it forms a large part of their 
daily sustenance, and when we take into con- 
sideration the great amount of hard, laborious 
work that is accomplished by this race in our 
country, we cannot doubt that their food, cheap 
though it may be, is remarkably sustaining. 



CHAPTER XXIV 

The Use of Sour Milk 

Almost any one can learn to use sour milk. It 
possesses a medicinal or therapeutic value for 
many, and the manufacturers of the various fer- 
ment milk products make the most of this quality 
in their extensive advertising. 

A favorite luncheon of the Bulgarian peasant 
consists of a dish of hot, boiled new potatoes, not 
mashed, but just well buttered and seasoned with 
a little black pepper and salt, and a glass or two 
of sour milk. The combination is really a good 
one, and, together with a vegetable salad and 
whole-wheat bread with sweet butter, forms a 
most wholesome and nutritious meal on a warm 
day. 

Some prefer the sour milk cream to the sweet 
cream on fruits, as bananas, strawberries, etc. It 
should be beaten up slightly after removing it 
from the sour milk. 

An easy way to make sour milk is to fill a quart 
bottle or jar, cork it, and set it away in a warm 
place until it ''sets." In warm weather it will 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 127 

require from twenty-four to thirty-six hours to 
sour. Then it should be set in a refrigerator or 
in a cool place until needed. Before using, pour 
the milk into a bowl and beat with an egg-beater 
until creamy. Prepared in this way it tastes very 
much like buttermilk. 

In the winter the making of sour milk may be 
hastened in the following manner : From a bottle 
of milk that has previously been soured, take two 
or three tablespoons and add it to the sweet milk 
before corking the jar. Then put it in a warm 
place, and in twenty-four hours it should be ready 
for use. 

If for any reason the sour milk is not used until 
it becomes strong and separates, it can be used in 
cooking or made into cottage or Dutch cheese. 

To make the cheese, set a pan containing the 
milk (the cream may be skimmed for use with 
fruit) into a cool oven. Do not shut the stove 
door. Leave the milk to stand until the curd 
separates from the whey. Then turn the contents 
of the pan into a muslin bag and hang it up to 
drain. When all the whey has drained off, re- 
move the contents of the bag, add salt to taste, 
and a generous piece of butter or a little sweet 
cream. If the oven cannot be used conveniently, 
set the milk on the back of a not too hot stove. 



128 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Many nourishing and delicious salads can be 
made with the cheese as a foundation. The sour 
milk can also be used to make delicious breads, 
muffins, and cake, which keep moist and fresh 
longer than when sweet milk is used. 

Molded Cheese Salad 
Take the Dutch cheese and line tiny molds with 
it. Fill the center with chopped nuts, or ripe 
olives cut into bits, or chopped-up celery. Turn 
the molds out on crisp lettuce leaves, and serve 
with mayonnaise or plain French dressing. 

Bran Gems made with Sour Milk 

2 cups bran 1 teaspoon melted butter 

1 cup graham flour 1 teaspoon soda 

j/2 cup Barbadoes 1 teaspoon salt 

molasses 1 cup sour milk 

Mix together the flour, salt, and soda, add the 
molasses and the milk, and beat well. Then add 
the melted butter and bake in gem tins. 

The bran adds a bulkiness and fibrous quality 
to the food, which makes it of especial value to 
those troubled with constipation. 



CHAPTER XXV 
Coffee as a Beverage 

Properly made and used in moderation, coffee 
mildly stimulates the digestive processes, having 
an opposite effect on the bowels from tea, which 
constipates. Coffee with some proves a laxative, 
especially when drunk early in the morning, thus 
benefiting the liver. 

In moderation coffee also supports the nervous 
system, counteracting exhaustion through such 
support. 

In excess or improperly made, it should be 
noted that coffee reverses its action somewhat, 
causing biliousness, and instead of toning and 
calming the nerves, excites them through over- 
stimulation, and instead of aiding digestion, re- 
tards it. Any coffee may produce such deleterious 
effects in persons with weak digestion. 

What do I mean by moderation? 

Oh, one or two cups a day. 

What by proper preparation? 

Well, of the three processes (viz. : filtration or 
percolation, infusion, and decoction), I believe an 
infusion made by placing finely ground coffee in 



130 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

water at the boiling point and allowing it to stand 
for ten minutes, at a temperature of, say, 190 de- 
grees, is the best. 

Sufficient strength is thus extracted without the 
loss of the fine aroma that is sacrificed when the 
coffee is boiled to any extent, and long boiling 
develops tannin, which is especially pernicious to 
digestion. 

If a greater strength is desired than the in- 
fusion gives, one does not need even then to boil 
it, since percolating the infusion will make it 
stronger and avoid the disagreeable features in- 
cident to boiling. 

Idiosyncrasy has much to do with the effects of 
either coffee or tea — a thing for which we can 
make no rules. Be it noted, however, that im- 
properly made or drunk in excess, either of these 
drinks is not well tolerated by a large number of 
people. 

Care of the Coffee Pot 
How difficult it is to get a cup of really good 
coffee! Great care is taken to have the best 
freshly ground coffee and boiling water, but yet 
there is something wrong with the flavor. The 
trouble is caused in many cases by the coffee pot. 
Careless servants often leave the pot for many 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 131 

hours with the remains of the breakfast cofifee 
standing in it, or even leave it untouched until it 
is required for use, and then throw out the sedi- 
ment, just rinse out the pot with a little cold 
water, and, without wiping or cleaning out any 
stale grounds that may be sticking round the 
sides, proceed to make the fresh coffee. Is it any 
wonder that, after the stale coffee has been shut 
up for hours in the pot, the flavor of the freshly 
made coffe is spoiled? If the coffe pot is metal 
it is doubly bad. 

As soon as possible after the breakfast table 
has been cleared the coffee pot should be emptied. 
If a strainer has been used, it should be put into a 
basin of very hot water and thoroughly rinsed 
until, on looking through it, it is seen to be quite 
free from grounds. It should be wiped dry and 
left to air before being put into the pot, which 
should be well rinsed with very hot water and 
wiped quite dry inside. Twice a week at least it 
should have a lump of soda as large as a nut put 
into it, and be filled to the brim with boiling 
water, and left to stand for an hour; then 
emptied, well rinsed in hot water, and wiped dry. 



CHAPTER XXVI 
Tea 

There are three varieties of the tea plant ; both 
black and green tea can be prepared from them 
all. Green tea is made from young leaves 
steamed, roasted, and dried quickly on copper 
plates. Black tea is made from leaves which have 
been exposed to the air ten or twelve hours before 
roasting. The action of the air upon the leaves 
during this exposure causes the dark color. Green 
tea gives up less of its juices in drying, which 
accounts for its energetic action on the nervous 
system. 

The tea leaf contains the largest amount of 
nutritive matter of any plant used as human 
food, though only a small portion of it is 
extracted by our common method of making tea. 
Some of the savage tribes of Tartary boil the 
leaves with soda, and eat them with salt and but- 
ter. In our method of using tea as a beverage, 
we use such a comparatively small quantity that 
the amount of nutriment is very little, its chief 
value being the sense of warmth and comfort it 
gives. It excites the brain to increased activity, 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 133 

and has a tendency to produce wakefulness. It 
retards the action of the natural functions, causes 
less waste, and, to a certain extent, saves food. 
For this reason, when not used in excess, it is 
suited to poor people, whose supplies of substan- 
tial food are scanty, and to old persons, whose 
powers of digestion and whose bodily substance 
have begun to fail. 

In making tea never use a tin teapot. Allow 
one teaspoon of tea for one cup of boiling water. 
Put the tea in the teapot; pour on the boiling 
water; cover closely and place it where it will 
keep hot, but not boil, for five minutes. 

In boiling tea or allowing the leaves to remain 
long in the water, by repated steeping, the fra- 
grant aroma is wasted and the tannin is extracted, 
which may cause gastric disorders to those who 
drink it. Never make tea in a tin container, as 
the tannic acid acts upon the metal and produces 
a poisonous compound. 

Tea that is ground like coffee will yield nearly 
double the amount of its exhilarating quality. 

The Origin of Tea 
The Chinese were the first to use tea as a drink. 
How it originated is told in a pretty legend that 
dates from 2000 b. c. 



134 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

A daughter of a then reigning sovereign fell 
in love with a young nobleman whose humble 
birth excluded him from marrying her. They 
managed to exchange glances, and he occasionally 
gathered a few blossoms and had them conveyed 
to her. 

One day in the palace garden the lovers met, 
and the young man endeavored to give her a few 
flowers; but so keen was the watchfulness of her 
attendants that all she could grasp was a little 
twig with green leaves. 

On reaching her room she put the twig in 
water, and toward evening she drank the water 
in which the twig had been kept. So agreeable 
was the taste that she even ate the leaves and 
stalks. Every day afterwards she had bunches 
of the tea tree brought to her, which she treated 
in the same way. 

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, 
the ladies of the court tried the experiment, and 
with such pleasing results that the custom spread 
throughout the kingdom, and the tea industry be- 
came one of the greatest businesses of China and 
of the world. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

The One-course Dinner 

Where help is hmited or the housewife does her 
own cooking, and economy is to be considered, 
the one-course dinner is best to serve. 

Shin of Beef Stewed 

Saw the bone in several pieces, put it into a 
stewpan with sufficient water to cover; bring it 
to a boil, and take off the scum. This must be 
done thoroughly, and the meat drawn aside to 
simmer. Add to it some celery cut into pieces, a 
good-sized onion, twelve black peppercorns, three 
or four small carrots; season with pepper and 
salt. Let the whole stew boil very gently for 
four hours. Boil some potatoes and turnips 
separately and serve with the meat. 

The above, with bread and butter, will make a 
satisfying and sustaining meal. A dessert may be 
added, if desired, also tea or coffee. 

Breast of Mutton Boiled 
Take out the bones, gristle, and some of the 
fat. Flatten the joint on pasteboard, and cover 
the surface thinly with a forcemeat or stuffing. 



136 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

composed of bread crumbs, minced savory herbs, 
a little chopped parsley, pepper and salt, and an 
tgg to bind. The forcemeat should not be spread 
too near the edge, and when rolled the breast 
should be tied securely to keep the forcemeat in 
its place. If gently boiled, sent to table hot, and 
smothered with good caper sauce, it will be liked. 
It takes at least two hours to boil. 

Caper Sauce 
Take one cup of melted butter, stir into it one 
and a half tablespoons chopped capers and two 
teaspoons of vinegar. Simmer over fire, stirring 
gently, for about two minutes. Sufficient for four 
persons. 

Baked Ham with Potatoes 

\V2 pounds of ham, sliced Vz cup grated cheese 
3 cups sliced potatoes Salt and pepper 

1 cup bread crumbs Milk to cover 

The ham should be sliced an inch thick. Fry 
slightly on both sides, cover with the potatoes. 
Add a dash of salt and pepper, the amount of salt 
depending on the saltness of the ham. Sprinkle 
the cheese and crumbs over the top, cover the 
whole with milk, and bake in a moderate oven 
for an hour and a half. 

To make an evenly balanced meal with the 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 137 

baked ham and potatoes, the following menu 
offers all that can be desired : 

Baked Ham with Potatoes 

Tomato Salad with French Dressing 

Bread and Butter 

Apple Pie 

Tea or Coffee 

This meal provides plenty of all the five neces- 
sary food principles: Water, protein (a tissue- 
building and energy food), carbohydrates, 
starches and sugars (all energy foods), fats 
(energy foods), and mineral salts. 

A Beef-soup Dinner 

Cover three pounds of meaty huckle bone with 
two quarts of cold water ; pepper and salt to taste, 
and cook slowly for four hours. About one and 
a half hours before dinner add two medium-sized 
onions, six medium potatoes, two tablespoons of 
washed rice, one medium-sized carrot sliced 
small, and half of a small turnip, if in winter, cut 
in small pieces. Add hot water enough to make 
about two quarts of soup when the meat and bone 
have been removed. 

Some like to add a little poultry dressing, say, 
a teaspoon to the soup, before serving. 

Carefully remove the meat to a platter, when 
the potatoes are done, and place them around the 



138 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

meat. Serve the soup with pieces of meat and 
potatoes. This is intended with bread to make a 
complete meal in itself. 

Beef Pie 

Three pounds of stewing beef, cooked very ten- 
der and seasoned the day before you make your 
pie. 

Cut the meat into inch pieces and place in a 
deep dish. Place over it bits of butter and the 
stewed beef gravy, also a level tablespoon of flour. 
Cover with a nice pie crust and bake long enough 
to brown. This is also very nice and more whole- 
some if covered by a crust of mashed and 
seasoned Irish potatoes. Bake this long enough 
to blend meat, flour, and gravy together. If your 
oven is very quick, cover with a dish, leaving 
cover off long enough to brown the potato crust. 

This also makes an economical, one-piece din- 
ner. A lamb or veal pie may be made in the same 
way. 

Rolled Skirt Steak in Casserole 

This makes an excellent and economical meal. 

Remove the fat and skin from a skirt steak and 

pound with the edge of a china plate or saucer. 

Brush over with a mixture of equal parts olive oil 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 139 

and vinegar. Roll, skewer, sprinkle with salt and 
pepper, and dredge with flour. Try out three 
thin slices of fat salt pork in a frying-pan, put in 
meat, and cook until entire surface is seared and 
browned, turning frequently, being careful not to 
pierce, so as to prevent the escape of juices. Put 
in casserole, add one-third cup of boiling water, 
cover closely, and cook in a slow oven one and a 
half hours. Wash and pare small potatoes, and 
brown surface in tried-out pork fat. Put in the 
casserole and cook during the last hour of the 
cooking. Remove meat to hot platter, pour 
around stewed tomatoes, and arrange the pota- 
toes at each end of roll. To prepare the tomatoes, 
turn the contents of a quart can into a sauce pan, 
bring to the boiling point, and let simmer until 
most of the moisture has evaporated. Season 
with butter, salt, and pepper. 

This with bread and butter and coffee, with 
any selected dessert, makes an excellent and 
cheap one-course meal. The size of the steak and 
number of potatoes may be varied according to 
size of family. 

That Leg of Lamb 
There are five in family. The leg of lamb 
weighed just seven pounds and cost $1.54. 



140 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

The first night at dinner it was served freshly 
roasted; the second night, cold and sliced. The 
third night, from a part of what remained, a well- 
seasoned hash with cold boiled potatoes and green 
peppers was made. This made an excellent, hearty 
dish. On the fourth day, with what remained, 
bones and all, an excellent soup was made for 
lunch by adding a spoonful of barley, an onion cut 
fine, and two or three potatoes. 

An outlay of $1.54 represented the meat dish 
for five people at three dinners, to say nothing of 
the lunch on the fourth day. With the ordinary 
vegetables or salad and dessert, every member of 
the family had a sufficient amount of good, 
nourishing food. 

English Cheese Pudding 
In many parts of England this pudding forms 
the night meal for the laboring classes. It con- 
tains a large amount of nourishment, and is more 
digestible than a Welsh rarebit. 

Grate or chop half a pound of soft American 
cheese. Toast and butter four slices of bread; 
put two slices in the bottom of a baking-dish, 
cover with half the cheese, dust lightly with salt 
and pepper. Put over them the other two slices 
and the remaining cheese. Pour over all one pint 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 141 

of milk; let it stand five minutes, and bake in a 
quick oven twenty minutes. This will serve four 
people. 

Six slices of bread may be used instead of four, 
with the same amount of cheese, adding an extra 
cupful of milk. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

How TO Stew Meat 

Stewing is a method of preparing meat by ex- 
tracting juice to flavor gravy, and retaining the 
juice in the remainder by searing the meat. 

In selecting meat for a stew the cheaper pieces 
may be used, although it is well to bear in mind 
that a cheap piece of meat which contains much 
refuse may be less economical than a higher- 
priced one, all of which is eatable. The cuts which 
may be used are usually selected from beef, lamb, 
mutton, or veal, and are the plate, naval, neck, 
shoulder, lower part of the round, etc. 

In preparing meat for a stew, wipe and cut into 
suitable pieces for serving. Meanwhile, divide 
into two portions ; add cold water to one portion 
and heat to the boiling point. Brown the other 
portion in a little fat in a frying pan. Then 
add it to the water and meat. The whole 
should be cooked slowly for three hours, or until 
the meat is tender. It is better to select meat with 
some bone and fat, as it makes a richer stew than 
one made with lean meat. Onions, turnips, car- 
rots, parsnips, and potatoes are the vegetables 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 143 

commonly used in stews. The vegetables should 
be cut into half-inch cubes or thin slices, not over 
a quarter inch thick, and added the last hour of 
cooking. The potatoes should, however, be par- 
boiled five minutes, then added to the stew, allow- 
ing twenty minutes for the cooking. Salt and 
pepper are the usual seasonings, although parsley, 
one or two cloves, celery salt, or catchup may be 
added to give variety. A nice way is to cook the 
vegetables separately. 

Beef Stew 

2 pounds beef 1 carrot 

3 tablespoons flour water 2 onions, sliced 
1 turnip 6 potatoes 

Salt and pepper 

Prepare according to above directions. 

Beef Loaf 
Take two pounds of beef (bottom of round) 
and grind it in a food chopper. Add three slices 
of fresh pork, three crackers, two eggs, a half 
teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper. Roll all into a 
nice loaf and cover it with sliced onions, four 
tablespoons of beef drippings, and a cup of hot 
water. Bake one and a half hours. 

Southern Beef 
Take about three pounds of beef (bottom of 
round will do) ; dredge it in flour on all sides, 



144 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

and brown nicely in a frying-pan. Then have a 
large baking-pan ready, and place the meat in the 
pan. Add three small carrots, a small turnip, 
four onions, teaspoonful of salt, dash of pepper, 
half a can tomatoes. Place all in pan and add a 
pint of water. Cover pan and cook in a moderate 
oven for about three hours. 

To serve: Slice beef and place vegetables 
around it on a platter. Thicken the gravy and 
serve hot. 

Beef Stew 

Take one or two pounds of cheap steak, cut in 
small pieces, fry a delicate brown in pork fat, 
then pour on boiling water until well covered. 
Simmer gently one hour, then add one or two 
onions sliced. Cook until done, which will re- 
quire about three and a half hours altogether. 
Serve with either baked or boiled potatoes. 

More One-course Meals; Getting Your 
Money's Worth 

A nice meal, at a very reasonable cost, may be 
made of boiled Frankfurt sausage, with potato 
salad, bread, butter, and coffee. 

Potato Salad 

4 cups sliced boiled 2 slices bacon, cooked 

potatoes and dried 

1 chopped onion 3 tablespoons olive oil 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS i45 

y2 cup weak vinegar 4 stalks celery, cut fine 

2^ teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon mtxed 

Pinch of red pepper parsley 

Into a large bowl put the sliced onion, salt, and 
vinegar, and let it stand for ten minutes. While 
the potatoes are still warm, slice into the bowl, 
mix with onion, salt, and vinegar. Then add oil, 
celery, bacon, and parsley. Mix together well. 

Arrange on bed of lettuce, and garnish with 
small pieces of cooked beets, and chopped hard- 
boiled eggs. 

To make a cheaper dish omit the garnishing. 

A Delicious Luncheon Dish 
Take a dozen raw potatoes, sliced thin; one 
large onion, chopped fine ; any kind of cold roast 
meat, preferably lamb or beef; and the brown 
gravy. 

Take a dish, such as a chicken pie would be 
baked in, and put a layer of the thin sliced pota- 
toes on the bottom and on the sides. Then put a 
layer of the thin slices of meat on the bottom; 
sprinkle over some of the chopped onion, some of 
the gravy, or pieces of butter, some salt and pep- 
per; then another layer of potatoes, then meat, 
onion, butter or gravy, salt and pepper, until the 
dish is full, having the last and top layer of pota- 
toes covered well. 



146 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Fill the dish with hot water, put in a fairly slow 
oven, and bake three hours, when it will be thor- 
oughly cooked and delicious. This is a dish that 
will, I think, be new to many. 

Cold-meat Pies 

Cold-meat pies are easy to prepare. They are 
very good made of chicken, lamb, or veal, and the 
latter two may be worth considering from an 
economical point of view. Take two pounds of 
veal, previously cooked and cut into neat pieces. 
Put a layer at the bottom of a deep baking-dish. 
Sprinkle over these some finely minced onion and 
parsley, a very little thyme, and some grated 
celery, salt and pepper, and then a layer of hard- 
boiled eggs cut into slices. Continue in this way 
until the materials are used, adding also a few 
slices of ham cut into small dice. Pour over all a 
strong gravy. This may be made from a knuckle 
of veal, and should be made sufficiently strong, so 
that, when cold, it will cut into a firm jelly. Cover 
all with a pie crust, and bake half an hour. 

As a variation, the veal may be molded in jelly. 
Boil a knuckle of veal in a quart of water until it 
falls to pieces. Season with onion, parsley, celery, 
salt, and pepper. Take a pretty mold, lay in the 
bottom a layer of cooked veal, then a layer of 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 147 

hard-boiled eggs, and a few pieces of ham. Con- 
tinue until the mold is almost full. Then strain 
over the contents the gravy. 

Meat Rolls 

Meat rolls are made by rolling out some pastry, 
and cutting it into squares of about four inches 
in size. Wet the edges all around, lay any kind 
of finely minced meat on one half, then fold the 
other half over. Pinch the moistened edges to- 
gether, so the contents cannot ooze out in cook- 
ing. Bake for about half an hour. The meat 
should always be finely chopped and well flavored. 

Crabs, salmon, or oysters may be used instead 
of the meat. 

Why Serve Apple Sauce with Pork? 

Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, the food expert, was 
asked the following question : "What is the scien- 
tific reason for eating apple sauce with pork and 
cranberry sauce with turkey?" 

His reply was as follows : 

^ "It is 'scientific' for foods to be both savory and attrac- 
tive to the eye. This increases appetite and promotes the 
how of the digestive juices, and so aids digestion. Apart 
from this fact, there is no serious reason for these com- 
binations, nor for many others. Pork is a fatty, highly 
nitrogenous food, and the watery, acid character' of the 
apple sauce affords a desirable contrast as to taste, and 
gives balance to the ration. Any other fruit sauce would 
do as well ; and, indeed, stewed fruit is an admirable addi- 



148 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

tion to any dinner, either served hot as the side dish of 
the^ meat course, or cold, as a substitute for our heavy, 
indigestible pies, puddings, or frozen sweets — eaten just 
when they discourage most effectively the efforts of the 
stomach to digest the meal." 

Mexican Pie 

2 slices of bacon, diced 

1 cup canned tomatoes 

1 cup chopped meat, raw or cooked 

VA teaspoons chili-pepper powder 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Cold corn-meal mush 

Line the bottom and sides of a deep pie-pan 
with mush, making it a half inch deep. Fry the 
bacon till crisp, add the other ingredients, and 
cook together for a few moments. Pour this into 
the lined pan, cover with a layer of mush, and dot 
with bits of butter or bacon fat. Brown in the 
oven. This is an excellent way to use any sort 
of left-over meat, and the dish is really very appe- 
tizing. 

Rolled Steak 

Take a thin slice from the round or flank steak ; 
trim it neatly, dust lightly with salt and pepper, 
then thickly with bread crumbs and a little 
chopped parsley. Roll the steak so that in carving 
you will cut across the grain ; tie in three places. 
Put a sliced onion, one carrot, a whole clove, and 
a bay leaf in a baking-pan. Put the steak on top, 
add a pint of hot water, cover the pan, and cook 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 149 

in a moderate oven one or one and a half hours. 
Lift the pan, brown the steak quickly, and dish it, 
removing the strings. Make a brown sauce, using 
the water from the pan. If it does not measure a 
half pint, add sufficient water to make the quan- 
tity. 

A Word about Broiling Steak 
Wipe, trim off any superfluous fat, and remove 
the bone. Save the flank end for broiled meat 
cakes. Grease the gridiron with some of the fat. 
Broil over a clear fire, turning every ten seconds. 
Cook about four minutes, if liked rare ; longer, if 
liked well done. Serve on a hot platter. Season 
with butter, salt, and pepper. Steaks should be 
cut at least an inch thick. Many prefer them 
much thicker. Sirloin, cross cut of the rump, and 
top of the round are all good steaks. The round 
is juicy, but has running through it some tough 
white fiber, which makes it difficult to masticate. 
If very tough, pound it with a meat hammer or 
cut across it several times on both sides with a 
sharp knife. The intense heat will sear the sur- 
face quickly, and prevent the escape of the juices. 
Many prefer not to remove the bone in a sirloin 
steak ; but it burns quickly, and the steak is more 
easily carved when the bone is removed. Carve 



I50 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

in narrow slices, giving each person a bit of ten- 
derloin, fat, and the upper part. 

Broiled Meat Cakes 
Chop lean, raw beef quite fine. Season with 
salt, pepper, and a little chopped onion. Make it 
into small flat cakes, and broil on a well-greased 
gridiron or in a hot frying-pan. Serve very hot 
with butter. The flank end of the sirloin is better 
when cooked in this manner than when cooked 
with the other part of the steak. 

Pork Chops, Portuguese Method 
Place the chops in a deep platter, slice up a 

small garlic and place on the chops, turn a half 

cup of vinegar over all, and let remain over night. 

Turn off vinegar and garlic before cooking. 
This gives the chops a fine flavor and makes 

them very tender. Pork steak may be prepared 

in the same way. 

Baked Pork Chops 
Make a dressing of bread crumbs, one well- 
beaten ^gg, one tablespoon of melted butter ; sea- 
son with pepper, salt, sage, and onions. Put the 
dressing in a baking-dish, lay the pork chops on 
top of the dressing, sprinkle with pepper and 
salt, and put the dish in the oven. When the 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 151 

chops are brown on one side, turn over, and 
brown on the other side. The juice from the 
meat will drip into the dressing and give it a 
delicious flavor. Cook for three-quarters of an 
hour. 

Delicious Hamburg with Tomato 

Take one pound of Hamburg steak and fry nice 
and brown, also take one can of tomato soup and 
add a half can of water to the soup ; heat to the 
boiling* point. Then take the Hamburg and put 
it in the tomato soup. Stir both together and 
serve hot with buttered crackers. This is a very 
nice dish. 

Breaded Lamb 

Cut cold boiled or roast lamb into thick slices. 
Dip in beaten egg, season with pepper and salt, 
cover with fine cracker and bread crumbs, and fry 
in smoking hot fat. 

Mock Veal Loaf with Creamed Peas 
Have the butcher grind together two pounds of 
neck meat and one pound of pork butts. Add to 
this two well-beaten eggs, four slices of bread, 
soaked in water until moist, one teaspoon of salt, 
one half teaspoon of white pepper, and a dust of 
paprika. Mix well and form into a loaf shape. 



152 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Place in greased baking-pan and cover half over 
with milk. Bake in a moderate oven for one 
hour. Have prepared one can of peas, drain off 
water, add one pint of milk, and one tablespoon 
of butter. Then add one teaspoon of cornstarch 
moistened with a little cold milk, and seasonings 
to taste; stir until boiling. Place loaf on a hot 
platter and pour over whole the creamed peas. 
This is a very cheap dish, and a test will prove 
it to be an extremely palatable one. 

Bacon and Eggs, New Style 

6 small slices dry bread, 4 eggs 

diced yi cup milk 

8 slices of bacon, diced Salt and pepper to taste 

Fry the bacon until brown. Add the bread, 
and toss with the bacon and fat until well sea- 
soned and slightly browned; then add the eggs 
beaten with the seasoning and milk, and scramble 
as usual. This is a very good way to use up dry 
bread. 

Veal Fritters 

1 egg Scant Yi. cup flour 

XYz cups chopped veal A pinch of salt and 

4 tablespoons milk white pepper 

Yi tablespoon salad oil V-z. taplespoon lemon juice 

Frying fat 

Beat thoroughly the egg yolk; add milk, oil, 
salt and pepper, flour, and lemon juice. Beat 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 153 

white of egg stiff and add to the mixture when 
ready to use. Then stir in veal, which should not 
be chopped too fine. Drop with spoon into slightly- 
smoking fat, and fry to a golden brown. Drain 
on soft paper or cheesecloth. Serve with or with- 
out sauce. Chicken may be used in place of veal. 

Utilizing Cold Griddlecakes 
To any clear soup, add the cold cakes, cut into 
the thinnest slices possible with sharp scissors. 
You will be delighted with the result. 

Shepherd's Pie 

Roast beef, gravy, potatoes mashed with butter. 
Mince the beef, and put layers of the beef and 
mashed potatoes in a buttered baking-dish. Put 
a layer of potatoes at the bottom. Moisten each 
meat layer generously with gravy. Salt and pep- 
per to taste. Make the top layer of potatoes, dot 
with small pieces of butter, and brown. A great 
deal of rich gravy should be used. 

Creamed Veal in Pastry Horns 
This is an excellent tasting dish, and can be 
made of either left-over cold veal, chicken, or 
lamb. Cut the meat into small cubes, heat thor- 
oughly in a good white sauce, and fill pastry horns 
with mixture. Garnish with parsley, and pour 



154 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

over a cream sauce seasoned with chopped pars- 
ley. Serve very hot. 

Scalloped Ham and Potatoes 
Put through the chopper enough cold boiled 
ham to give one cupful and a half. Cut six large 
boiled potatoes in thin slices. In a saucepan mix 
together two tablespoons each of butter and flour, 
a scant teaspoon of salt and a third of a teaspoon 
of white pepper. When bubbling, stir in gradu- 
ally one pint of hot milk, and cook until smoothly 
thickened. In a buttered dish put alternate layers 
of potato, ham, and sauce until all are used. With 
a half cup of stale bread crumbs, mix one table- 
spoon of melted butter. Spread this over the top 
and bake in a quick oven until browned. 

Cheese Toast 
Toast as many slices of stale bread as can be 
used. Make a pint of white sauce, as for the 
scalloped ham and potatoes, but scant the flour 
and salt. Two minutes before taking from the 
fire, stir in one cup of chopped or grated cheese, 
and stir until it is barely melted, then pour over 
the hot toast. This is substantial and appetizing. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

A Few Satisfying Drinks, Thirst- 
quenchers 

Ginger Cream 

Take a tumbler two-thirds full of ginger ale; 
put in three tablespoons of rich cream; stir and 
drink. 

This is a most delicious drink for either hot or 
cold weather. 

Ginger Punch 

For five minutes boil a pint of water, a pound 
of sugar, and the grated yellow rind of a lemon. 
Strain, and while hot stir into it two sliced 
bananas and a quarter of a pound of chopped 
candied cherries. Stand aside to cool. At serv- 
ing time put a good-sized block of ice into the 
punch bowl, add the juice of six lemons to the 
banana mixture, turn it into the punch bowl. Add 
two bottles of ginger ale, and one quart of Apolli- 
naris. Serve at once. 

Mint Punch 
From twelve stalks of mint, strip off the leaves, 
chop them very fine and rub them to a paste, add- 



156 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

ing gradually one pint of cold water. Add a 
pound of sugar. Boil five minutes and strain 
through cheesecloth. When cold, add the juice 
of six lemons. At serving time turn this mixture 
into the punch bowl over a block of ice, throw in 
a few fresh mint leaves, and add sufficient Apolli- 
naris to make a palatable drink. 

Ginger Squash 
Fill a large glass a third full of finely chopped 
ice; add a half bottle of ginger ale, and fill the 
glass at once with Apollinaris ; stir and serve. 

Iced Cocoa 
Put two heaping teaspoons of cocoa into a 
double boiler ; add gradually a half pint of boiling 
water. Cook and stir five minutes; add a half 
pint of milk, beat thoroughly, take from the fire 
and stand aside to cool. At serving time fill the 
glasses a third full of finely chopped ice; add a 
teaspoon of powdered sugar ; fill the glass two- 
thirds full of the cocoa, and fill the remaining 
third with whipped cream. 

Lemonade a la Savarin 
For eight people three lemons are sufficient. 
The best lemonade is made with lemon and 
orange juice rather than with lemon alone. Take 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 157 

three lemons and one small, juicy orange. Cut 
in halves and squeeze out the juice with a glass 
reamer or lemon squeezer. Put lemon juice and 
orange juice together. Take the pulp and skins, 
cut into pieces and cover with sugar, allowing 
them to stand at least an hour in order that the 
sugar may extract the oil from the skins. Make 
the syrup of sugar and water — a cup of sugar to 
a half cup of water will be sufficient — and pour 
while hot over the fruit juice. Let stand until 
cold; add a half cup of water to the sugar and 
lemon skins, and mash and press in a fruit press 
until all the juice possible is extracted. Add this 
to the lemon syrup. It should make a pint of 
heavy juice, which may then be diluted with 
water, taking usually three cups of water to re- 
duce to the desired consistency and delicacy of 
flavor. 

The principal thing to be considered is to make 
a thick, heavy sirup which forms a body and 
blends the beverage, so that in place of a thin, 
acidulated drink, one gets substance. The next 
point is to extract all the juice and flavor of the 
fruit. If the skins of the lemons be left standing 
covered with water, a bitter extract is formed, 
which should not be used, being astringent and 
disagreeable. The sugar without the water 



158 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

merely extracts the oil, which adds to the flavor, 
and thus makes one lemon go farther without 
diluting the result. 

Do not chop the lemon skins and let them stand 
covered with juice or water, and then add to the 
lemonade. The only safe way is to do exactly as 
described, and while the juice with sugar added 
may stand twenty-four hours before using, the 
skins with sugar over them should not. Lemon- 
ade should be freshly made to be right. 

Iced Cocoa, Panama-Pacific Exposition 
Style 

Iced cocoa is an insipid drink unless made with 
a sirup. At the Panama- Pacific Exposition in 
San Francisco one booth became famous because 
of the cocoa served there — a real deliciously 
flavored iced cocoa. The recipe used was as 
follows : 

Mix a half cup of cocoa with one cup of sugar 
and one cup of warm water and hold over hot 
water until both sugar and cocoa are dissolved. 
Boil to a heavy syrup. Remove from the fire and 
thoroughly chill. When ready to serve, flavorwith 
half a teaspoon of vanilla and two tablespoons of 
strong coffee. Put from two to three tablespoons 
of this mixture in a glass ; add the same quantity 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 159 

of chopped ice, and a quarter of a cup of cream. 
Shake well, fill with water, add more cream or 
sirup if necessary. The entire mixture may be 
made and poured into the glasses rather than 
mixed in each glass if desired. Again the main 
point is to have a heavy sirup made with enough 
cocoa to give a chocolate flavor and cream enough 
added to make a rich drink. This makes a very 
different beverage from that ordinarily sold 
under the head of chocolate soda. 

Sugar Sirup 
A heavy sirup of sugar and water will keep 
almost indefinitely under proper conditions. The 
usual proportions are a half cup of water to two 
cups of granulated sugar. Put the sugar in a 
saucepan, add the water and stir over the fire, 
where the mixture will slowly heat until the sugar 
is dissolved. Place on the front of the stove, and 
let the sirup boil without stirring until it spins 
a delicate thread, when it is ready to be taken 
from the fire. 

Grape Punch 
Add to a quart of grape juice the juice of six 
lemons and two oranges, two quarts cold water, 
and two cups of sugar. Pour into the punch 



i6o TRUE FOOD VALUES 

bowl; add sliced oranges, bits of pineapple, ber- 
ries, or sliced peaches. 

Tea Punch 

4 cups water % cup lemon juice 

2 cups sugar Strong cold tea 

Boil sugar and water together for fifteen min- 
utes; cool, add lemon juice and freeze in three 
parts ice to one part salt. Serve in frappe or tall 
tea-glasses, pouring two or three tablespoons of 
the tea over each serving. 

Fruit Cup 
Five tablespoons of Ceylon tea infused in a 
quart of boiling water. Let it stand for five min- 
utes, and then pour over two pounds of granu- 
lated sugar. Cook this into a thick sirup. Cool, 
and add to the strained juice of six lemons, six 
oranges, one pineapple, and one quart of berries. 
The fruit may be varied according to the season. 
Add one teaspoon of vanilla and one teaspoon of 
almond extract. When ready to serve, add a 
quart of any good mineral water or a quart of 
iced water, and serve cold. This formula will 
make a gallon of liquid, and the quantity may be 
increased or diminished according to one's need. 



CHAPTER XXX 
Hints for Breakfast 

The longer I live, the more I am persuaded that the 
gifts of Providence are more equally distributed than we 
are apt to think. Among the poor so little is enjoyed so 
much, and among the rich so much is enjoyed so little. — 
Margaret Bottome. 

1 

Broiled Ham 

Corn-meal Griddlecakes 

Creamed Potatoes 

Hot Apple Sauce, Coffee 

2 

Oranges 

Oatmeal, Thin Cream 

Egg Omelet 

Bread and Butter. Coffee 

3 

Bananas 

Shredded Wheat, Thin Cream 

Scrambled Eggs. Mashed Potato Cakes 

Coffee 

4 

Pears 

Toasted Corn Flakes, with Milk and Sugar 

Boiled Eggs. Dry Toast 

Doughnuts. Coffee 

5 

Fruit 

Cereal 

Boiled Eggs. Buttered Toast 

Doughnuts. Coffee 



i62 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

6 

Cereal, with Dates 

Scrambled Eggs 

Creamed Potatoes 

Rye Muffins. Coffee 

7 

Thin Slices of Fat Salt Pork 

(rolled in flour and dried) 

Fried Apples 

Potatoes Cooked in Milk 

Corn-meal Muffins 

Coffee 

8 

Fruit 

Corned Beef Hash 

Buckwheat Griddlecakes 

Coffee 

9 

Grapefruit 
Creamed Salt Codfish 

Baked Potatoes 
Bran Rolls. Coffee 

10 

Oranges 

Cereal. Codfish Balls 

Ginger Cookies. Coffee 

11 

Stewed Prunes 

Cream of Wheat, Cream 

Eggs Cooked in the Shell 

Hashed Potatoes 
Rice Griddlecakes. Coffee 

12 

Calf's Liver. Fried Bacon 

Creamed Potatoes 

Breakfast Corn Cake 

Apple Sauce 

Coffee 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 163 

13 

Bananas 

Oatmeal, Cream 

Omelet. Muffins 

Coffee 

14 

Fruit 

Mashed Potato Cakes 

Bacon Cooked in Oven 

Eggs Cooked in Shell 

Dry Toast 

Coffee. Cocoa 

15 

Fruit. Cereal 

Broiled Bacon. Corn Cake 

Coffee 



CHAPTER XXXI 
Prunes 

One of the most valuable fruits that the market 
always affords, both from an appetizing and an 
economical standpoint, is the prune. Aside from 
its use as a sauce (stewed prunes) there are many 
recipes for its use in a variety of ways. 

Prune Cheese Pie 
Roll out a light pie crust made from one pint 
of pastry flour (sifted), half a cup of butter, half 
a cup of iced water or cider, and half a teaspoon 
of salt. The shortening may be mixed half and 
half, but a better crust results from the use of all 
butter. Use a knife or spatula in mixing pastry. 
Sift the salt into the flour; cut the butter, bit by 
bit, into the flour, adding the water or cider a few 
drops at a time, and mix it thoroughly. Turn on 
the board and roll several times. If a richer crust 
is wanted, after the paste is rolled, spread bits of 
butter over it, fold over, and roll the paste again. 
Always use the best materials in making crust, 
and have everything as cold as possible. Plain 
paste, to give the best results, should be kept on 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 165 

ice or chilled. For the filling, stew prunes, cut 
them in two, remove pits and skins, and put with 
the juice into the lower crust. For the upper 
crust use strips or a lattice of the paste. When 
the pie is nearly done put grated American cheese 
through the openings between the crust, upon the 
prunes. Cover the whole top of the pie with 
whipped cream, and replace in the oven to brown 
on top. Serve hot or cold. 

Plain Stewed Prunes 

Wash a pound of prunes in several waters. Let 
stand nearly covered with water over night. Then 
simmer on back of stove till tender. Add table- 
spoon of sugar before removing from the stove. 
Serve with cream. 

Stuffed Prunes 

Wash large and perfect prunes in warm water. 
Steam one hour, then remove the stones. Stuff 
with half a date each, some English walnuts 
chopped fine, and a little powdered sugar. Fill 
them full, shape nicely, and roll in powdered 
sugar. Best if made a week before using. 

San Jose Prune Cake 

1 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking pow- 

V2 cup butter der (level) 

Yi cup water Grated rind of V2 lemon 

3 eggs 1 cup chopped walnuts 

1 cup steamed and chopped prunes 



i66 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Bake in loaf shape, putting layer of batter on 
bottom of cake pan, then layer of prunes and 
layer of nuts, having cake at top. Bake in slow 
but steady oven. 

Prune Brown Bread 

1 cup corn meal Vz cup New Orleans 

2 cups whole wheat flour molasses 
1 cup sour milk 1 teaspoon salt 

1 teaspoon soda 
1 cup dried prunes, washed, pitted, and chopped fine 

Scald the corn meal, add other ingredients. Put 
mixture in three baking-powder cans, cover, and 
steam two and a half hours. 



Prune Sherbet 

To one and a half pounds of prunes in a stew- 
pan add a little water. Cover pan, set on back of 
range to simmer slowly until prunes are tender. 
Rub through colander ; sweeten to taste ; freeze as 
ice cream. Serve on plate with water-ice 
around it. 

For water-ice take : One pint clarified sugar, a 
half pint of water; grate the rind of two lemons 
onto the sugar; add juice of five lemons and one 
orange. Strain through hair sieve. When cold 
freeze as ice cream. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 167 

Sweethearts 

1 cup sugar V2 teaspoon soda 

1 cup sour cream 1 egg 

1 teaspoon baking- A pinch of salt 

powder 

Flour sufficient for a stiff dough 

Roll out one-half quite thin and spread with a 
layer of finely chopped prunes. Roll the other 
half and put on top. Cut in shape of hearts. 
Bake in quick oven. 

Prune Jelly 
Wash and cover one pound of prunes with cold 
water; soak them over night. Next morning 
bring them to a boiling point ; press them through 
a colander. Have ready a half box of gelatin, 
that has been covered with a half cup of cold 
water and soaked for half an hour. Put the 
prunes over the fire ; add a cup of sugar and the 
juice of a lemon; stir in the gelatin, and when 
the whole comes to melting point, turn it into a 
mold and serve with whipped cream. There 
should be at least a pint and a half of this pulp, 
otherwise it would be too stiff with a box of 
gelatin. 

Prune Pudding 
Make a small mould of lemon jelly. Boil large 
selected prunes slowly until very tender, taking 



i68 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

care to keep the skins unbroken. Drain and place 
in a glass dish. Break up the jelly all about them, 
so that the two parts will have the appearance of 
being made together. Pile whipped cream over 
the prunes and jelly. 

Prune Whip 
Take one cup of prunes, cooked soft, a half 
cup of sugar, and the whites of two eggs. Whip 
well, and set in glasses to cool. Serve with 
whipped cream. 



CHAPTER XXXII 
A Word about Chocolate 

Chocolate is such a general favorite with 
almost every one that any dish or combination 
using it will not come amiss. 

Chocolate is the finely ground powder from the 
kernels of the cocoa tree, mixed to a stiff paste 
with sugar, and sometimes flavored with vanilla. 
It is the most nutritious and convenient form of 
cocoa ; a small cake of it will satisfy hunger. It is 
a very good lunch for travelers. 

Chocolate does not produce the injurious 
effects which render tea and coffee objectionable, 
and is far better for children and working people. 

Chocolate Pie 

Take a pint of milk, a pinch of salt, and a half 
cup of butter; put on to boil. Add a half cup of 
grated chocolate, a half cup of sugar, well mixed 
with a quarter of a cup of flour; cook until 
smooth. Flavor with vanilla and bake in a bot- 
tom crust. Cover with whipped cream. This 
makes a good-sized pie. 

Chocolate sauce, to serve with ice cream or as a 



I70 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

pudding sauce, is delicious. Mix well a half cup 
each of grated chocolate and sugar, add a half cup 
of cream, and heat slowly until well blended. 

Chocolate 
Put one square of Baker's chocolate, two table- 
spoons of hot water, and a pinch of salt in a small 
saucepan, and boil until it is smooth, stirring con- 
stantly. Add gradually one pint of boiling water, 
and when ready to serve add one pint of hot milk. 
Use all milk and two squares of chocolate, if liked 
richer; or thicken with one teaspoon of corn- 
starch wet in a little cold water, and boil five 
minutes before adding the milk. 

Chocolate Gelatin 

1 pint milk A half box gelatin 

1 pint cream Two ounces chocolate 

A half cup sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla 

Cover the gelatin with a half cup of cold water 

and let soak for half an hour. Put the milk over 

the fire, adding sugar and chocolate, then the 

gelatin. Take from the fire, add the vanilla, and 

fold in the whipped cream when it is cool. Set 

away to chill in a naold. 

Chocolate Filling 
This is a most delicious filling or frosting for a 
plain chocolate cake. Take a cup of sugar, five 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 171 

tablespoons of cream, one egg beaten, and two 
squares of chocolate. Cook in a double boiler 
for an hour. Then beat and when thick enough 
put on the cake. 

Chocolate Roll 

1 cup sugar 1 teaspoon cream tartar 

4 eggs ^ teaspoon soda 

1 cup sifted flour 

For Filling : 

1 square Baker's V2 cup milk 

chocolate Yt. cup granulated sugar 

Boil until right consistency; add one teaspoon 

vanilla; spread and roll. 

Chocolate Sandwiches 
Slightly butter thin slices of white bread ; trim 
off the crusts. Melt a small piece of butter and 
grate into it the bitter chocolate, sweetened to 
taste with granulated sugar. Take from the fire 
and cool. Moisten with a little cream, if the 
filling is too thick to spread between the slices of 
bread. 

Chocolate Crullers 
Cream two tablespoons butter and a half cup 
of sugar. Gradually add the beaten yolks of 
three eggs and one and a half cups more of sugar, 
a cup of sour milk, one teaspoon vanilla, two 
ounces of chocolate grated and melted over hot 



172 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

water, one-third of a teaspoon of soda dissolved 
in a half teaspoon of boiling water, the whites of 
the eggs whipped to a stiff froth, and sufficient 
sifted flour to make a soft dough. Roll out, cut 
into oblongs and divide each into three strips, 
leaving the dough united at one end. Braid 
loosely, pinch the ends together, and cook until 
brown in smoking-hot fat. 

Cocoa Sponge Cake 

lYz cups sugar 3 eggs 

V2 cup cold water yi cup cocoa 

1 teaspoon vanilla 2 teaspoons baking- 

1^ cups flour _ powder 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

Beat yolks of eggs light, add water, vanilla, and 
sugar. Beat again thoroughly, then add the flour 
with which the baking-powder, cocoa, and cinna- 
mon have been sifted. Fold in the stiffly beaten 
whites of eggs. Bake in rather a quick oven 
twenty-five or thirty minutes. 

Chocolate Tarts 
Grate two ounces of the best French chocolate, 
and mix with it a pinch of powdered cinnamon, 
a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of finely chopped lemon 
rind, a dessertspoon of sifted sugar, and a heap- 
ing teaspoon of ground rice. Mix a pint of cream 
or new milk with four well-beaten eggs, and add 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 173 

the custard gradually and smoothly to the choco- 
late powder. Stir the mixture over the fire for a 
few minutes, but be careful that the cream does 
not curdle. Line the inside of a tart dish with a 
good light paste or puff paste. Pour the cream 
when cool into it. Bake the tart in a moderate 
oven about half an hour. Sufficient for five or 
six persons. 

Chocolate Cake 

1 cup flour 1 teaspoon haking- 

1 cup sugar powder 

Pinch of salt 

Sift into a bowl. Put into a measuring-cup one 
teaspoon of butter, two squares Baker's chocolate, 
melted ; then add two eggs, and fill cup with milk 
and add to dry ingredients. Beat well. Add a 
teaspoon of vanilla last. Bake in a moderate 
oven. 

Boiled Frosting 
Take one cup of granulated sugar ; boil until it 
threads. Then add it to the beaten white of one 
egg, beating until it is thick enough to spread. 



CHAPTER XXXIII 
Diet in Constipation 

Use foods that leave a bulky residue in order to 
stimulate the muscular coat of the intestines. 

The following foods may be recommended: 

Soups. — Broths, oyster soup, sorrel soup. 

Fish. — All kinds boiled. White sorts broiled. 
Sardines in oil. 

Meats. — Most kinds, poultry, game, etc. 

Farinaceous Foods. — Brown or graham bread, 
gingerbread, oatmeal porridge, bran bread, bran 
pudding, whole-meal bread, corn bread. 

Vegetables. — Most fresh varieties if well 
boiled. Spinach, boiled onions, Brussels sprouts, 
cauliflower, salads with oil, lettuce, asparagus, 
tomatoes, salsify, celery. 

Dessert. — Figs, prunes, tamarinds, baked ap- 
ples, oranges (on rising), melons, grapes, raisins, 
stewed fruits, honey, or molasses. 

Beverages. — Glass of water, preferably hot, 
drunk on rising (add salt to taste). Pure water 
in plenty, black coffee, cocoa, lemonade. Mineral 
Waters: Richfield Springs, Crab Orchard, Bed- 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 175 

ford, Saratoga, Hunyadi, Carlsbad, Rubinat, 
Friedrichshall, Kissingen, Villacabras, Puellna. 
The foods that must be avoided are : 
Pork, veal, goose, liver, hard-boiled eggs, salt 
meats, salt fish, peas, beans, nuts, pineapples, new 
bread, pastry, pickles, cheese, spirituous liquors, 
milk. 

Diet in Dyspepsia 

Small meals should be taken at regular inter- 
vals. Punctuality is of great importance. Masti- 
cate thoroughly ; eat slowly and temperately. 

The following foods may be taken : 

Soups. — Small quantity. Clear soups of beef, 
mutton, oyster. A little vermicelli or tapioca may 
be boiled with these. Cream pea soup, pea, to- 
mato, hominy, and bean soups. 

Fish. — Oysters and little-neck clams in any 
form except fried. Weakfish, whitefish, shad, cod, 
perch, trout, bass, smelt, fresh mackerel. 

Meats. — Meat-juice, roast or broiled beef, mut- 
ton, chicken, tripe, calf's head, venison, tongue, 
sweetbread. 

Eggs. — Raw, soft-boiled, poached ; omelet, 
combined with chicken or oysters. Eat dry toast 
or stale bread with eggs. 

Farinaceous Foods. — Bread at least one day 



176 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

old; brown bread, toast, rye, gluten, and graham 
bread, zwieback, crackers, cream crackers, 
cracked wheat, rice, sago, tapioca, macaroni, ar- 
rowroot, corn meal, hominy, wheaten grits, gra- 
ham grits, rolled rye, rolled oats, rice cakes, 
browned rice, baked flour. 

Vegetables. — These are best made into puree 
by passing through a colander or mashing. 
Greens, spinach, lettuce, water-cresses, French 
beans, sweet corn, green peas, asparagus, celery, 
baked tomatoes, potatoes (but little). 

Dessert. — Fruit, rice, tapioca, Indian, and 
farina puddings; custards — rice, snow, rennet, 
sponge cake, floating island; orange charlotte, 
gelatin creams, blanc mange, baked and stewed 
apples and pears, grapes, and all ripe fruits except 
bananas and pineapples. No rich sauces. 

Beverages. — Drinks should mostly be taken 
near the end of meals. Hot water before meals, 
milk, lime-water, Vichy, weak tea (one-half 
ounce to the pint), kumiss, weak cocoa, pepton- 
ized cocoa and milk, buttermilk, acid wine (if 
there is acidity). Black coffee and lemon juice 
on first rising. Mineral waters : Carbonic water, 
Congress, Hathorne, Ballston, Kissingen, Apol- 
linaris, Poland, Highland Spring. 

The foods that must be avoided are : 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 177 

Rich soups and chowders, all fried foods, veal, 
pork, liver, kidney, hashes, stews, pickled and 
corned meats, preserved.and potted meats, turkey, 
goose, duck, sausage, salmon, salt mackerel, blue- 
fish, sturgeon, eels, shrimps, sardines, lobster, 
crabs, cabbage, cauliflower, cucumbers, string 
beans, parsnips, eggplant, turnips, carrots, squash, 
salsify, sweet potatoes, beets, pastry pies, made 
dishes, nuts, dates, jams, dried and candied fruits, 
candies, cheese, strong tea, ice water, malt liquors, 
sweet and effervescent wines, spirituous liquors. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 
Skill in the Preparation of Food 

"Every girl ought to know that cookery is a fine art 
and the mastery of it an accomplishment of which to be 
proud." 

Skill in the preparation of food means better 
living at less cost. Economy in marketing does 
not necessarily mean the buying of cheap foods, 
but the wise selection of such foods as your means 
will allow and those best suited to the particular 
needs of your family. "Buy just enough and not 
too much," is a wise rule to remember. Save 
every bone, whether of beef, mutton, veal, or 
poultry, as well as the remaining gravies and 
sauces in the meat dishes, and add them to the 
stock-pot. The stock-pot should be considered a 
household necessity by every family, not alone 
from an economical standpoint, but because it 
furnishes a form of nourishment that cannot be 
too highly appreciated. 

Meat costs the most of all foods. Every bit 
that is left over should be utilized for another 
meal, either by adding it to the richness of the 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 179 

stock-pot, or by cutting it into cubes and warming 
up in a brown sauce, with which it will make an 
appetizing and sightly dish. 

A small meat-grinder, costing not over one dol- 
lar and a half, is a great money-saver, and some- 
thing that every economical housewife should 
possess. With it the tough ends of the rump or 
of round steak can be made into appetizing meat 
balls, Hamburg steak, and the like. The butt end 
of a ham may be chipped up in the same way, 
frizzled as you would dried beef, with milk for 
the sauce. With corn bread and coffee this makes 
an excellent one-dish meal. 

If you think your steak is tough, instead of 
pounding it try treating it with a marinade. 
Pounding does not really make it more tender, 
it simply breaks the fibers. The marinade, being 
composed in part of vinegar, softens them. It is 
made of one spoonful of vinegar to two of good 
salad oil. Both sides of the steak should have 
this well rubbed in some hours before the meat is 
to be cooked. There will be no taste of the vine- 
gar, and the flavor of the steak will be improved. 
Rather tasteless cuts of meat may be treated in 
the same manner, adding to the vinegar and oil a 
sprinkle of paprika or other pepper. Meats to be 
boiled are often improved by having a tablespoon 



i8o TRUE FOOD VALUES 

of vinegar added to the water in which they are 
cooking. If there is any question whether the 
meat is fresh or not, it may be made perfectly 
sweet by being left for some time in vinegar, 
which should be well rinsed off when the meat is 
prepared for cooking. 

Gravy is a perplexing problem in small families, 
where so many dishes are poor without it. How 
difficult it is to keep gravy on hand, in spite of the 
constant advice to "save the trimmings for 
stock," every mistress of a small family knows. 
By all means save bone, gristle, odds and ends of 
meat of all kinds, and make them into broth. 
Even then it often happens that on the days you 
have done so no gravy is required. Stock sours 
quickly in summer, and, besides, in no family of 
three or four are there odds and ends enough to 
ensure stock for every day. The only remedy for 
this is to make a stock that will keep for months — 
in other words, glaze. With glaze on hand you 
have a soup for an emergency or a rich gravy for 
any purpose. 

To make glaze, take six pounds of a knuckle of 
veal or leg of beef, also half a pound of lean ham, 
and cut into pieces the size of an ^gg. Rub a 
quarter of a pound of butter on the- bottom of 
your pot, which should hold two gallons. Put in 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS i8i 

the meat with half a pint of water, three medium- 
sized onions with two cloves in each, a turnip, a 
carrot, and a small bunch of celery. Place over a 
quick fire, occasionally stirring it until the bottom 
of the pot is covered with a thick glaze, which 
will adhere lightly to the spoon. Fill up the pot 
with -cold water, and when at the boiling point 
draw to the back of the stove, where it may 
gently simmer three hours if veal, six if beef. 
Carefully skim it. Pass the stock through a fine 
hair-sieve into a pan, then fill up the pot again 
with hot water, and let it boil four hours longer; 
strain and pour both stocks into a large pot or 
stewpan together ; set it over the fire and let boil 
as fast as possible, with the lid off, and with a 
large spoon in it to keep it from boiling over. 
Stir occasionally. When it is reduced to three 
pints, pour into a small stewpan, set again to 
boil, but more slowly, skimming if necessary. 
When it is reduced to a quart, boil again quickly, 
stirring it well with a wooden spoon until it be- 
gins to get thick and of a fine yellow-brown color. 
Be careful it does not burn. Get a sausage skin 
from the butcher; cut a yard of it, tie one end 
very tightly, and pour the glaze into it by means 
of a large funnel. Tie up. From it cut slices to 
use. A thick slice cut from this will make a bowl 



i82 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

of soup, to which may be added any cooked vege- 
tables, rice, or barley. 

Glaze adds much to the beauty of many dishes. 
If roast beef is not brown enough on any one spot, 
set your glaze ( for this purpose it is well to have 
filled a jar in addition to the skin) in boiling wa- 
ter. Keep a small, stiff brush, such as are sold for 
the purpose, called a glazing brush. When the 
glaze softens, as glue would do, brush over the 
meat with it, and it will give the lacking brown. 

While eggs are dear it is well to know that by 
substituting cornstarch for every third tgg in a 
recipe, and beating well, the same effect is pro- 
duced as if the extra ^gg were added. One flat 
tablespoon is the amount. 

A Good Meat Substitute 

1 can kidney beans 1 tablespoon of bacon 

Juice of 1 can tomatoes fat or drippings 

A little onion junce Salt and pepper to taste 

Drain and rinse the beans. Strain the tomato 

juice over the beans in a saucepan ; add the bacon 

fat, onion juice, and salt and pepper to taste. 

Cook rather slowly for twenty minutes and serve 

garnished with crisp bacon. The tomato juice 

thickens around the beans, making the whole 

delicious. This, served with plain, boiled rice, a 

green vegetable, such as string beans, carrots, or 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 183 

cauliflower, a simple salad of lettuce, if desired, 
and a light dessert, makes an extremely satisfying 
and nourishing meal, even to a most confirmed 
meat-eating man. 

It can be made even more economically by 
using dried kidney beans, soaking them over 
night, letting them simmer very slowly for three 
hours, and then straining. This gives a much 
larger quantity of beans, material for fine soup, 
and perhaps enough beans for a good salad, 
served with French dressing. The first method is 
for quick service; the second for economy. 

Icings 

If you have three or four good cake recipes and 
know how to make a variety of icings, you should 
be able to produce almost any kind of cake de- 
sired. White layer cakes lend themselves to 
chocolate and cocoanut icings, while the *'gold" 
cakes are fine with cream and custard fillings. Try 
some of these icings and add them to your store 
of cake knowledge : 

To make mocha cream filling, whip one pint of 
heavy cream, add three tablespoons of confec- 
tioners' sugar, and one or two tablespoons of very 
strong cold coffee. This may be varied by add- 
ing some crushed macaroons or ground nuts. 



i84 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

French butter frosting is fine and it is easily 
made. Take a quarter cup of fresh butter, two 
cups of sifted confectioners' sugar, hot water as 
needed, and any desired flavoring. If you have 
no unsaUed butter, wash good table butter. To 
do this heat a bowl and your hands in hot water, 
then chill, and, taking butter into bowl, work and 
knead it under cold water. Place butter between 
folds of a clean napkin and pat dry. Now cream 
the butter and sugar, adding a little hot water as 
needed. The mixture must be light and creamy, 
and after being applied to the cake, set it' in a cold 
place and the frosting will harden. 

This gives you the foundation for all kinds of 
French frosting. If you use hot coffee instead of 
water you have a mocha frosting, to which one or 
two spoonfuls of powdered chocolate may be 
added. Ground nuts are also nice in this frosting, 
or nuts and candied cherries may be set on top as 
decorations.. 

Quick Mayonnaise 
Mayonnaise dressing for salads would be used 
much more frequently were it not for the time 
required to prepare it. By the following method 
the same amount may be made in a few minutes' 
time : Beat the tgg with an tgg beater, add the 



AND 'THEIR LOW COSTS 185 

seasonings and mix them well ; then beat in a tea- 
spoon of vinegar or lemon juice. Begin to add 
the oil gradually at first, by the tablespoonful. 
Beat the mixture well until the thickening process 
begins. You can then pour in the oil quite reck- 
lessly, and need stop only to add an occasional 
spoonful of vinegar or lemon juice to thin the 
mixture and give it the desired flavor. 

The proportion of acid or of the seasonings 
may need to be increased somewhat when the 
salad oils are first used, in order that the new oil 
may not prove too noticeable. 

Larding 

Many kinds of meat which are lean and dry 
are very much improved by the addition of some 
kind of fat. The tenderloin of beef, the thick part 
of the leg of veal, etc., are often prepared in this 
way. 

Take a piece of clear, fat pork about two inches 
wide and three inches long; force this into the 
center of the meat, cutting a gash in the same for 
the purpose. 

A small piece of garlic put in the center of a 
roast of beef, in addition to the pork, not only 
makes it more tender and juicy, but adds a much 
finer flavor. 



i86 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Broiling 

This is cooking directly over the hot coals, and 
the secret of nice broiling is frequent turning. 
The fire should be bright red, but no flame. The 
damper should be wide open, so that the smoke 
from dripping fat may be carried into the 
chimney. 

There is nothing so good for broiling as a 
double wire broiler. Grease it well, and have the 
thickest part of the meat near the center of the 
broiler. 

Do not salt the meat while broiling, as salt 
draws out the juice. 

Turn over as often as you can count ten, and 
cook four minutes, if one inch thick. 

Fish should be floured or rolled in meal to keep 
the skin from sticking. They should be cooked 
from five to fifteen minutes, depending upon the 
thickness. 

Chickens require from twenty minutes to half 
an hour. 

Chops are improved by broiling in buttered pa- 
per. A sheet of letter paper, rubbed with 
softened butter, folded over the chop with the 
edges pinched together, keeps out the air, and all 
the juice is retained. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 187 

Frying Oysters 

To fry oysters properly requires no little skill; 
otherwise they may be compared to a greasy piece 
of sole-leather. Only the largest oysters should 
be cooked in this way. 

Having selected your oysters, put them into a 
colander and pour over a little water to rinse 
them; then place them on a clean towel and dry 
them. Have ready some grated bread crumbs 
seasoned with pepper and salt, and plenty of ^gg 
beaten till very light ; for each tgg allow a large 
teaspoon of cream. Beat the ^gg and cream to- 
gether. Dip each oyster first into the tgg and 
cream, and then into the crumbs. Repeat this 
twice, until* the oysters are well coated all over. 
Have ready boiling, in a frying-pan, an equal 
mixture of butter and lard. It must very nearly 
fill the frying-pan and be boiling hot when the 
oysters go in, otherwise they will be heavy and 
greasy. Fry them a deep yellow on both sides 
and serve hot. 

When cream is too thin to whip, the unbeaten 
white of an ^gg may be added to overcome the 
trouble. 

A piece of onion added to chicken when it is 



i88 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

stewing will greatly improve the flavor, and the 
onion taste will not be noticed. 

When baking pie the juice from the fruit often 
soaks through the under crust. This can be pre- 
vented by brushing the under crust with the white 
of an ^gg. 

Macaroni versus Meat 
Good macaroni is a highly nutritious food, and 
cooked with cheese it is an almots ideally bal- 
anced ration. However, the claim that macaroni 
contains four times the nutriment of meat by 
weight is misleading. It would be approximately 
correct to say that you get the same amount of 
nutriment for a fourth of the money, when buy- 
ing the macaroni, and, from an economic point of 
view, its occasional substitution for meat, 
especially when served with cheese, is highly to 
be recommended. Pound for pound, sirloin steak 
yields only two-thirds as much energy or heat as 
macaroni, but it contains twenty times as much 
fat, and about a fourth more protein. 

Fats 
Fat, aside from being a lubricant to the body, 
is the greatest source of latent or reserve energy 
that the body has, yet there is probably no neces- 
sary food constituent more thoroughly disliked. 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 189 

Fats must be broken up or emulsified before 
they can be digested. Fortunately the normal 
body is so constituted that it does not crave large 
quantities at a time. For this reason fats are 
seldom served by themselves alone, but in com- 
bination — olive oil being generally cut by lemon 
juice or vinegar in a French dressing, butter being 
spread on bread, eggs served with bacon, apple 
sauce with fat pork, etc. Nature demands a bal- 
ance. 

Fat is the last food constituent to be acted upon 
by the digestive organs; foods cooked in fat re- 
main in the digestive tract from one to two hours 
longer than is ordinarily necessary. For this rea- 
son, if such foods are eaten to excess, sooner or 
later intestinal indigestion is sure to follow. 



CHAPTER XXXV 

Tested Recipes for Cake 

"You cannot eat your cake and keep it too." — Proverb. 

Date Cake 

Yi cup butter 2 eggs, beaten until light 

^Ys cups brown sugar Y2 cup sweet milk 

Wi cups sifted flour 
2 teaspoons baking-powder 

Mix all together until smooth, then add a half 

teaspoon nutmeg, a half teaspoon cinnamon, a 

half pound of dates, cut in cubes. Beat hard and 

bake in a moderate oven for thirty minutes. 

Soft Molasses Cookies 

Y3 cup butter 1 teaspoon ginger 

Yi cup boiling water Y2 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 cup molasses Ya teaspoon salt 

1 level teaspoon soda Flour for drop batter 

Melt the butter in the boiling water; add the 
molasses and the other ingredients sifted to- 
gether. Drop from a spoon upon a buttered 
bakirjg-pan, having the cakes some distance apart. 
Bake in a moderately quick oven. The dough 
should be of a consistency to makes cakes that do 
not spread too much. Try one cake, then add 
more flour if needed. Stored in a tight-closed 
earthen jar the cakes will keep moist a long time. 



TRUE FOOD VALUES 191 

Jelly Roll 

2 eggs Pinch of salt 

Yz cup sugar 1 teaspoon baking- 

5 tablespoons milk powder 

1 large cup flour 

Bake in large baking-pan, spread with jelly, 

and roll while hot. 

Oatmeal Gingerbread 
Warm one pint of molasses with a fourth 
pound of butter, lard, or good drippings, and a 
fourth pound of brown sugar. Mix with one and 
a half pounds of fine oatmeal, a half pound of 
flour, a teaspoon of baking-powder, a tablespoon 
ground ginger, a half teaspoon mixed spices, one 
ounce candied orange peel, cut fine, one pound 
raisins chopped. Pour the warmed ingredients 
over the dry mixture and stir well. A portion of 
this mixture may be mixed with nuts and baked 
in squares in a slow oven. The rest may be baked 
in a loaf tin. 

Snickerdoodles 

2 cups sugar 2 eggs 

4 tablespoons butter 1 cup milk 

1 scant cup flour 
2 teaspoons baking-powder 
1 cup raisins ground with a meat cutter 

Drop batter from a tablespoon onto greased 
tins, sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixed, if 
desired. Bake in quick oven. 



192 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

Buttermilk Cookies 
One and a half cups granulated sugar, or two 
cups soft white sugar, one cup lard, one cup but- 
termilk in which have been dissolved two level 
teaspoons of soda. Flavor with nutmeg and add 
flour to make a soft dough. Bake in a hot oven. 

Poor Man's Fruit Cake 
Dissolve a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda in 
four teaspoons of water. Put in a bowl, add a 
half cup of molasses, one cup of thick sour milk, 
and three tablespoons of melted butter. Mix 
thoroughly; add one cup of brown sugar, and 
then stir in three cups of sifted flour. Add one 
level teaspoon each of cinnamon and ginger, and 
half a nutmeg, grated; stir in one pound of 
seeded raisins. Turn into a square bread pan and 
bake in a moderate oven for one hour. When 
done turn it from the pan, and when cool put it 
in a tin box to ripen for at least one week. 

The above is an excellent fruit cake, and the 
cost is very moderate for a cake of the kind. The 
recipe was given us by a lady, who declared it 
the best fruit cake she had ever eaten. 

How TO Make Three Kinds of Cake at One 
Time 
Separate the yolks of four eggs into the mixing 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 193 

bowl, with two cups of sugar and half a cup of 
butter. Add whites beaten and cream lightly. 
Put in one teaspoon vanilla, two teaspoons 
baking-powder, and gradually add enough flour 
until mixture drops from spoon. 

Take three small greased loaf tins and put a 
third of this mixture into first tin, adding a few 
raisins, thus making loaf raisin cake. 

Drop the second third into small bowl, add one 
and a half teaspoons cocoa to color it, and put in 
second pan — making loaf of chocolate cake. 

Into the last third put a pinch each of nutmeg, 
clove, and cinnamon, and the third tin will have a 
delicious spice cake. 

These make a nice variety for lunches and can 
be made in one mixing. 

Oatmeal Cookies 

1 cup butter 2 cups flour 

V/i cups sugar V2. teaspoon baking- 

2 eggs powder 

4 tablespoons sweet milk 1 large cup raisins 
2 cups oatmeal (un- (seeded, cut, and 

cooked) floured). 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 
A little nutmeg 

Cream the butter and sugar together ; add the 
eggs, well beaten, then the milk and oatmeal. 
Sift the baking-powder in the flour, and add the 
raisins and nutmeg last. The batter should be 



194 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

very thick, and is dropped on well-greased tins 
in small circles and baked for fifteen or twenty 
minutes. They may be ornamented with nuts or 
fruits, if desired. 

There is no reason why the deft housewife can- 
not make cakes and cookies that for daintiness of 
flavor and variety excel those turned out by the 
large bakeries, and are certainly far more eco- 
nomical. 

There need be no restrictions to the baking of 
cookies or sand tarts. The wise cook will make 
them in large quantities, then put them into air- 
tight tins, and she will have enough in the larder 
for days to come. 

One necessary requirement for making good 
cookies is to have an even and rather quick oven. 

Sand Tarts 

Take one cup of butter, one and a half cups of 
sugar, three eggs, a tablespoon of water, two- 
thirds teaspoon of baking-powder, and sufficient 
flour to make stiff enough to roll. 

Cream the butter and sugar together; add 
yolks, well beaten, with water and whites beaten 
to a froth. Add the baking-powder and flour last. 
Roll the dough very thin; cut in circles or 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS I95 

squares ; sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top ; and 
bake in a quick oven for about fifteen minutes. 

Plain Cookies 

5^ cup butter 1 egg 

1 cup sugar 2 teaspoons baking- 

}i cup milk powder 

Flour to roll out thin 

Cream the butter ; add the sugar, milk, the egg 
beaten lightly, and the baking-powder mixed with 
two cups of flour, then enough more flour to roll 
out. Roll a little at a time. Cut out. Bake about 
ten minutes. 

The above is economical and good. 

' A Rice Pie-crust 

There are some people who are denied the en- 
joyment of eating pie because the crust is hard to 
digest. The following use of rice makes an ex- 
cellent substitute for pie-crust in all lemon and 
cream pies. 

Put a quarter cup of rice into one cup of water, 
with a pinch of sah, and cook until soft. It is 
best to use a double boiler. Press the boiled rice 
into the shape of an under crust in the pie pan, 
and let it stand until it jellies. Make the lemon 
or cream filling and put it in the rice crust. Cover 
with the usual meringue, and brown lightly in the 
oven. If cut when cool, the rice will hold its 



196 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

shape and prove a pleasant surprise to a pie-loving 
family. Serve cold. 

Ginger Creams 

1 cup molasses 4 cups pastry flour 

1 cup granulated sugar 2 teaspoons soda 

5^ cup butter 1 teaspoon cinnamon 

Yz cup lard 1^/2 teaspoons ginger 

1 cup sour cream VA teaspoons cloves 

2 egg-yolks Vz teaspoon salt 

Mix together molasses, sugar, cream, egg- 
yolks, and the shortening, which should be 
melted. Mix the soda and spices with two cups 
of flour and beat into mixture. Add balance of 
flour; cover, and let stand an hour to swell. Then 
drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, two inches apart, 
onto a buttered sheet. Bake in a moderate oven. 
A raisin may be placed in the center of each be- 
fore baking, or they may be iced, when done, with 
vanilla frosting. 

Apple Cake 

1 pint flour %. cup butter 

Vz teaspoon salt 1 egg 

Vz teaspoon soda 1 scant cup milk 

1 teaspoon cream tartar 4 or S sour apples 
4 large tablespoons sugar 

Mix dry ingredients in order given ; rub in the 
butter; beat the tgg and mix it with the milk; 
stir this into the dry mixture. The dough should 
be soft enough to spread a half inch thick on a 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 197 

shallow baking-pan. Core, pare, and cut the ap- 
ples into eighths ; lay them in rows on top of the 
dough, sharp end down, and press slightly ; sprin- 
kle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake in hot oven 
twenty-five minutes. 

Chocolate Gingerbread 
Put in a mixing bowl half a cup of molasses, 
one tablespoon each of melted lard and butter, 
half a cup of brown sugar, half a teaspoon of 
ground cinnamon, a quarter of a teaspoon each 
of grated nutmeg and ground ginger, and a heap- 
ing tablespoon of grated sweet chocolate mixed 
to a paste with a little warm water. Blend the 
ingredients thoroughly, and then stir in one tea- 
spoon of baking-soda dissolved in a small cup of 
sour cream and sufficient sifted flour to form a 
cake batter. Pour into an oblong greased cake 
pan, and bake about twenty minutes in a moderate 
oven, covering when cold with a chocolate 
frosting. 

Brown-sugar Frosting 

Take one and a half cups brown sugar, a third 

cup milk, and one teaspoon butter. Boil together 

until a soft ball is formed when a little is dropped 

in cold water. Cool till tepid, add a half teaspoon 



198 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

vanilla, and beat till thick enough to put on the 
cake. 

Chocolate Sponge Cake 

Beat up thoroughly four fresh eggs. Mix with 
a cup of sugar, a teaspoon of baking-powder, a 
half cup of potato flour, and two squares of 
chocolate. Stir well. Place in a well-greased pan 
and 1 ike for at least half an hour. 

"It simply melts in your mouth." It is the 
recipe of Miss Effie M. Cahoon, a sixteen-year- 
old Harwich High School girl, who won the title 
of ''Champion Housewife of Massachusetts" in 
the cooking-economies contest conducted by the 
Massachusetts Agricultural College. 



CHAPTER XXXVI 
Desserts 

A well-fed man is a happy man. 

A Delicious Graham Pudding 
To make a delicious graham pudding, put a 
cup of molasses, a cup of sweet milk, two cups of 
graham flour (not sifted), a tablespoon of melted 
butter, a scant teaspoon of soda, half a grated 
nutmeg, and a cup of raisins, currants, and citron 
mixed, in a bowl, and mix well. Turn into a 
mold and steam three hours. 

Prune Pudding 
Soak a cup of tapioca over night. The next 
morning cook until it is soft in a little water. 
Then mix with it a cup of sugar, a little salt, a 
cup and a half of stewed prunes, which have had 
the stones removed, a third of a teaspoon of cin- 
namon, and the juice and rind of a lemon. Turn 
into a mold and put in a cold place. Serve with 
whipped cream. 

Indian Pudding 
Into a quart of milk in a double boiler stir four 
large tablespoons of Indian meal mixed in a little 



200 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

water, half cup of molasses, half cup of sugar, 
and a little salt. After cooking a while, stir in 
two beaten eggs. When cool, stir in a cup of 
cold milk, and bake three hours. 

Maple-Sirup Sandwich 
Spread one slice of white bread with maple 
sirup or molasses with a wooden spoon, the other 
slice with butter. Put the two pieces together 
and cut in any shape desired. 

Lemon Toast Pudding 
Take three slices of toast, two eggs, a cup 
sugar, a lemon (juice and grated rind), a five- 
cent can of evaporated milk, and a pinch of salt. 
Break toast in small pieces, add as much water as 
there is evaporated milk, stir both together; add 
sugar, salt, eggs well beaten, lemon juice, and 
grated rind, and pour all over the broken toast in 
pudding pan. Let set a few minutes until toast is 
well moistened Add a little more milk if neces- 
sary, and bake naif hour in a moderate oven. 

Apple Roll 

Make a pie crust with three even cups of flour, 

one good cup of lard, and a little salt. Roll out 

thin and cover with chopped apples with a little 

cinnamon sprinkled over them. Roll up like a 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 201 

jelly roll, cut in one-inch slices, and bake until 
brown. To be served with sauce or cream. 

Macedoine of Fruit 
Cut in small pieces any fruit on hand. Sprinkle 
with powdered sugar, and let stand on ice for 
several hours. Serve in glasses with a spoonful 
of whipped cream on top. 

Nut Tapioca 

Soak two thirds of a cup of tapioca over night 
in three cups of water. In the morning add one 
cup of brown sugar, one teaspoon of salt, and two- 
thirds of a cup of hickory nut meats, broken fine 
or ground. Mix well and cook in double boiler, 
covered, for one hour. Serve cold with whipped 
or plain cream. 

Apple Pie with Cheese 

A new and appetizing way of serving cheese 
with apple pie is as follows: Choose a good- 
flavored English or American ripe cheese. It 
should be somewhat dry. Grate generously over 
the pie, and heat in the oven just long enough to 
make the pie hot and to melt the cheese. 

Apple Betty 
Use soft crumbs from the center of a stale loaf 
of bread. Mix three cups of crumbs with half a 



202 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

cup of melted butter. Have ready three cups of 
sliced apples. Put the buttered crumbs and the 
fruit into a baking-dish, in alternate layers, hav- 
ing the last layer of crumbs. Sprinkle each layer 
of fruit with a little sugar, also cinnamon, or 
grated orange, or lemon peel, as desired. Bake 
about one hour. Let the dish be covered during 
the first half of the baking, but remove, at the 
last, that the erumbs may brown. Serve hot with 
sugar and cream. 

Honey 
The United States Department of Agriculture, 
in a new bulletin on the uses of honey, recom- 
mends it for making cakes, as well as for icing on 
cakes. Cakes made with honey will keep their 
quality longer than those made with sugar, and if 
made without butter will keep good for months. 

Peach Bread Pudding 
On a pint of fine stale bread or cracker crumbs 
pour boiling water and stir in a tablespoon of 
melted butter. After letting stand until thor- 
oughly soaked, add two well-beaten eggs and half 
cup of sugar. On the bottom of a buttered pud- 
ding dish put a thin layer of this batter, over it a 
layer of sliced peaches, and so on, dredging each 
layer of peaches with sugar till the dish is full, 



, AND THEIR LOW COSTS 203 

having batter at the top. Bake in a moderate 
oven for half an hour. Serve with sweetened 
cream. This is an excellent way of using second 
quality peaches. 

Orange Pudding 
Take enough puff paste to line a pie dish, the 
juice of three large oranges, the yolks of three 
eggs, quarter of a pound of sugar and half pint 
of milk. Mix all together, leaving out two ounces 
of sugar, and bake in a moderate oven for half an 
hour. Whip the whites of the eggs until stiff, 
stir in the remainder of the sugar, then pour this 
over the pudding, and bake a golden color. 

Vanilla Snow Pudding 
One cup of rice, five cups of salted water; boil 
for twenty minutes, then add half cup sweet 
cream, half cup sugar, one tablespoon butter, and 
fold in the stiffly beaten whites of two eggs. 
Flavor with vanilla. Pile on dish and serve cold. 

Coffee Souffle 

V2 cup milk 1 tablespoon gelatine 

Wz cups coffee A good pinch of salt 

Yz cup sugar 3 eggs 

If you have coffee left over from breakfast or 

dinner, by no means allow it to be thrown away, 

but see that it is saved from day to day and kept 

in a bottle, as it can be used in many ways. 



204 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

One of the best ways of using the coffee is in 
the making of coffee jelly. But there are others 
as nice. 

For instance, there is coffee souffle, which will 
please every member of the family. 

First soak the gelatin for an hour in cold water. 
Then mix with the coffee, milk, and half of the 
sugar. Heat in a double boiler. Beat the yolks 
of the eggs slightly, add what is left of the sugar 
and the salt, and pour slowly into the coff^ 2 mix- 
ture. Cook until the mixture becomes thick, and 
then add the whites of the eggs beaten stiffly, and 
a half teaspoon of vanilla. Beat the whole thor- 
oughly and turn into a mould. 



CHAPTER XXXVII 
How Food Frauds may be Frustrated 

The increasing frequency of prosecutions 
under the Food and Drugs Act, against trades- 
men for selling dangerous and adulterated food, 
has justly caused a feeling of uneasiness among 
the public as to what they are really getting for 
their money. When it is reflected that the num- 
ber of inspectors is not nearly sufficient properly 
to check the evil, and that, moreover, even when 
dishonest shopkeepers are detected, their nefari- 
ous profits are so large that they are content to 
risk prosecution again and again rather than give 
up selling adulterated goods, any feeling of un- 
easiness that exists must be increased tenfold. 

The pure food law, which went into effect 
January i, 1907, has done much toward checking 
the wholesale and gross violation of foods im- 
posed upon the people by unscrupulous firms. 
Yet, however severe the punishment, and how- 
ever closely the various frauds are watched, many 
will still be inclined to beat the law. 

The only certain check on adulteration is one 



2o6 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

applied by the housewife herself, and I propose 
to give some simple hints whereby any one can 
tell at once what it is one is buying. These 
methods are used by the trade to protect itself 
against dishonest manufacturers and merchants, 
and the very mention of them will send a cold 
shiver down the spine of the ''margarine-for-but- 
ter ' man. 

One of the commonest of all swindles is selling 
margarine for butter, and when it is reflected that 
the former can be purchased wholesale at about 
seven cents per pound, and when sold as butter 
fetches from thirty to forty cents, it is hardly 
surprising. 

Best margarine is probably as wholesome as 
butter, but some of the cheap makes have been 
adulterated with tallow and glucose, and in some 
cases have even contained the early stages of the 
tape-worm. There are a number of very simple 
ways of detecting margarine in butter, or distin- 
guishing margarine from butter. For example, if 
a small piece of the suspected article be rubbed 
violently between the hands a tallowy smell will 
be observed if it contains margarine. 

Another method is to make a little wick of 
twisted cotton or thread, pull it through the ar- 
ticle to be tested, and light it, blowing out the 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 207 

flame immediately. If margarine is present, there 
will be an unmistakable tallowy whiff like that 
from a blown-out candle. 

If butter is melted in a tube it froths readily, 
while margarine will scarcely froth at all unless 
it contains butter, and then only in proportion to 
the butter present. When butter is melted there 
is a residue of salt and water, but the bulk forms 
a clear, perfectly transparent mass of pure butter, 
while margarine is not transparent and has a 
milky appearance. 

Another swindle is chicory sold for coffee, and 
as the latter costs from ten to fifteen cents per 
pound and fetches from twenty to thirty cents 
when sold as coffee, it is a swindle that is likely 
to continue so long as human nature is what it is. 

With a little practice it is possible to detect 
chicory at once by its smell, which is raw and bit- 
ter and quite distinct from the rich aroma of 
coffee. Most grocers rely entirely upon this test. 
The housewife might remember, however, that it 
is always darker in color than coffee, and when 
kept for any time it is liable to cake, which pure 
coffee never does. 

The only certain way of avoiding chicory is to 
buy the coffee whole and grind it as required ; the 
flavor is much better immediately after grinding, 



2o8 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

and as chicory cannot be made Into lumps one is 
sure of not getting any. Sham whole chicory has, 
however, been found occasionally mixed with the 
genuine article, and consists of pellets of clay or 
colored farina. 

Probably the best test for pure coffee is to place 
a teaspoon of the ground coffee gently on the 
surface of a glass of water. If it is pure it will 
float for a long time and scarcely color the water, 
but if it contains coloring matter of chicory it will 
quickly absorb water and sink, imparting a 
brownish tint to the water. 

If a teaspoon of the suspected article is stirred 
rapidly into a glass of cold water, pure coffee 
will rise to the top and scarcely color the water, 
but chicory will sing to the bottom and stain the 
water a dark brown tint. 

Even chicory has been freely adulterated, sam- 
ples from Germany and Holland having some- 
times been proved to contain red earths, Vene- 
tian red, and ground mustard husks, wheat, rye, 
or beans. 

Another favorite fraud is the addition of alum 
to bread and baking-powders, which gives a pleas- 
ing whiteness to the bread, but has a less satis- 
factory effect on the stomach of the victim v^^ho 
eats it. It causes constipation and indigestion, 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 209 

and, if there is enough of it, it may be dissolved 
by the gastric juices and enter the blood, which it 
will coagulate, with perhaps very serious results. 

A rough-and-ready test for alum in bread is to 
plunge the heated blade of a table-knife into the 
loaf when it arrives warm from the baker's. If it 
contains alum the peculiar sour smell of this un- 
desirable substance may be detected on the blade. 

Another way is as follows : Crumble a slice of 
the suspected bread into a glass of cold water, 
add a slip of leaf gelatin, cover, and leave all 
night. In the morning take a small quantity of 
solution of log-wood to which enough carbonate 
of ammonia has been added to render it alkaline, 
and stain the swollen gelatin with it. If the bread 
is pure the gelatin will be of a dark red color, but 
if alum is present it will be of varying shades of 
blue, according to the amount of alum present. 

Baking-powders occasionally contain very 
large quantities of alum, as much as forty per 
cent, being sometimes revealed by analysis, but 
it is very easily detected. Stir a couple of tea- 
spoonfuls in a glass of cold water, and if it is 
pure it will bubble up owing to the formation of 
carbonic acid gas ; but the presence of alum pre- 
vents this and it is lifeless. 

Green peas in bottles and tins are frequently 



2IO TRUE FOOD VALUES 

colored with copper, which, in sufficient quanti- 
ties, is highly dangerous ; in fact, there have been 
cases in the courts where a tin of peas contained 
enough poison to kill a man. It is very easy to 
detect the presence of copper. If the peas are 
poured into a glass and a small piece of clean 
steel, such as a large darning-needle, is steeped 
in the mixture and left all night, a plating of cop- 
per will be deposited on the steel if any is present 
in the peas. 

Happily a process has been discovered for col- 
oring green preserved vegetables by ''chlorophyl,'* 
or the beautiful natural coloring of leaves, etc., 
and this is quite harmless, besides giving a better 
color than the dangerous copper. 

A very common swindle is the sale of beet 
sugar in imitation of cane sugar, to which it is 
altogether inferior; but it can be distinguished 
from the former by color, smell, and taste. 

If beet sugar is put into tea without milk it 
will turn the liquid very dark, but not so with 
cane sugar. This is the best way of telling one 
from the other. Colored beet crystals, however, 
sold in imitation of Demera sugar, can generally 
be known from the genuine article by stirring a 
spoonful rapidly in cold water and examining the 
undissolved residue. If the color is washed out 



AND THEIR LOW COSTS 211 

it IS probably colored beet sugar and not the 
genuine cane. 

Olive oil is perhaps adulterated more than any 
similar food product. The most common adul- 
terant is cotton-seed oil, but sesame oil and min- 
eral oil are sometimes found. The latter is highly 
dangerous, as it is entirely indigestible and most 
objectionable. 

Rough-and-ready tests for purity are by 
shaking up the bottle — adulterated oil holds the 
air bubbles much more freely than the pure olive 
oil ; or, where the oil congeals at too high a tem- 
perature — if there is ten per cent., or more, adul- 
teration present the congealed mass will float on 
top for several days. It is a common practice of 
grocers selling adulterated oil to prescribe it as 
"salad oil" or ''household oil" instead of ''olive 
oil," as, if it is so described, they cannot be prose- 
cuted. Moral: Ask for olive oil, and see that 
you get it. 

Tinned sardines are often anything but sar- 
dines, and the same thing may be said of an- 
chovies. It is very difficult to know a sardine 
from the many imitations that are put up, but if 
the small fish are chosen the purchaser is on the 
safe side. There is a very simple way, however, 
of telling anchovies from their many (far in- 



212 TRUE FOOD VALUES 

ferior) imitations. The belly fin is much nearer 
the head than the one on the back; the head is 
pointed, the upper jaw projects over the lower 
one, the body is thin, and the tail wide-forked and 
slender. By noticing these points, one can very 
easily distinguish it from the sardines, sprats, 
pilchards, etc., often sold as genuine anchovies. 



INDEX 



Apple Betty, 201 

Apple cake, 196 

Apple pie with cheese, 201 

Apple roll, 200 

Apple sauce, why serve with 

pork? 147 
Bacon and eggs, new style, 152 
Baked fish, stuffing for, 95 
Baked ham with potatoes, 136 
Baked pork chops, 150 
Baked potatoes, 107 
Baked tomatoes, 118 
Beef, corned and pickled, cal- 
ories per pound, 17 
Beef, dried, 20 
Beef, fresh, calories per 

pound, 16 
Beef loaf, 143 
Beef organs, calories per 

pound, 16 
Beef pie, 138 

Beef, shin of, stewed, 135 
Beef soup dinner, 137 
Beef, Southern, 143 
Beef stew, 143, 144 
Bisque, lobster, 96 
Boiled dressing, 99 
Boiled dressing for cold slaw, 

99 
Boiled frosting, 173 
Boiled potatoes, 106 
Bran gems made with sour 

milk, 128 
Bread, 11 
Bread, digestibility of different 

kinds, 86 
Bread, hot, 89 
Bread, maple brown, 83, 
Bread, milk, 79 
Bread, oatmeal, 83 
Bread, prune brown, 166 



Bread, raisin, 81 

Bread, rye, 83 

Bread, water, 78 

Breaded lamb, 151 

Breads, something about, 81 

Breakfast foods, predjgested and 

malted, 29 
Breakfast, hints for, 161 
Breakfast muffins, 85 
Breast of mutton boiled, 135 
Broiled meat cakes, ISO 
Broiled tomatoes, 117 
Broiling, 186 

Broiling, steak, word about, 149 
Brown bread, prune, 166 
Brown sugar frosting, 197 
Buttermilk cookies, 192 
Buying meat in midsummer, 68 
Cabbage and rice, 113 
Cabbage cooked with pork, 112 
Cabbage, creamed, 112 
Cabbage, Norwegian style, 113 
Cabbage, proper way to boil, 111 
Cabbage salad, 101 
Cabbage, word about, 110 
Cake, apple, 196 
Cake, chocolate, 173 
Cake, chocolate sponge, 198 
Cake, cocoa sponge, 172 
Cake, coffee, 81 
Cake, date, 190 
Cake, how to make three kinds 

at one time, 192 
Cake, poor man's fruit, 192 
Cake, San Jose prune, 165 
Cake, tested recipes for, 190 
Cakes, broiled meat, 150 
Cakes, nut, 82 
Canned lamb, calories per 

pound, 18 



21$ 



214 



INDEX 



Canned mutton, calories per 

pound, 18 
Caper sauce, 136 
Care of the coffee pot, 130 
Cereal substitutes for coffee, 32 
Cheese, molded, salad, 128 
Cheese, prune, pie, 164 
Cheese rings, 122 
Cheese toast, 154 
Chocolate, 170 

Chocolate, a word about, 169 
Chocolate cake, 173 
Chocolate crullers, 171 
Chocolate filling, 170 
Chocolate gelatin, 170 
Chocolate gingerbread, 197 
Chocolate pie, 169 
Chocolate roll, 171 
Chocolate sandwiches, 171 
Chocolate sponge cake, 198 
Chocolate tarts, 172 
Chops, pork, baked, ISO 
Chops, pork, Portugese method, 

ISO 
Cocoa, iced, 156 
Cocoa, iced, Panama-Pacific 

Exposition style, 158 
Cocoa sponge cake, 172 
Coffee as a beverage, 129 
Coffee cake, 81 

CoflFee, cereal substitutes for, 32 
Coffee pot, care of, 130 
Coffee souffle, 203 
Cold meat pies, 146 
Cold slaw, boiled dressing for, 

99 
Composition of milk, 11 
Constipation, diet in, 174 
Cooked lamb, calories per 

pound, 18 
Cooked mutton, calories per 

pound, 18 
Cookies, buttermilk, 192 
Cookies, oatmeal, 193 
Cookies, plain, 195 



Cookies, soft molasses, 190 
Cooking, a word about, 33 
Corned beef, calories per 

pound, 17 
Cream mufiins, 84 
Creamed cabbage, 112 
Creamed veal in pastry horns, 

153 
Crullers, chocolate, 171 
Date cake, 190 
Deep fat frying, 70 
Delicious graham pudding, 199 
Delicious Hamburg with 

tomato, 151 
Delicious luncheon dish, 145 
Desserts, 199 
Diet and health, 21 
Diet in constipation, 174 
Diet in dyspepsia, 175 
Digestibility of different kinds 

of bread, 86 
Dinner, one-course, 135 
Doctors, what they do not 

know, 51 
Dressing, boiled, 99 
Dressing, French, 98 
Dressing, mayonnaise, 99 
Dried beef, 20 
Drinks, satisfying, 155 
Dyspepsia, diet in, 175 
Easy ways to prevent waste, 59 
Economy, false, 42 
Egg salad, 102 
Egg, white and yolk, 38 
Eggs, 35 

Eggs and milk, 14 
Eggs, hard-boiled, 40 
Eggs, raw, 36 
Eggs, soft-boiled, 39 
Eggs, to keep, 68 
Eggs, unsafe, 41 
Eggs, whole, 27 
Energy value of meat, 15 
English cheese pudding, 140 
Experts, food, 50 



INDEX 



2IS 



False economy, 42 

Fat folks, 63 

Fats, 188 

Filling, chocolate, 17§ 

Fish, 91 

Fish and potatoes, 92 

Fish balls, 93 

Fish, mayonnaise, 102 

Flour, 7i 

Flour, to preserve, 70 

Food experts, 50 

Food frauds, 205 

Food, proper proportion of, 7 

Food, skill in the preparation 

of, 178 
Food values, 1 
Frauds, food, 205 
French dressing, 98 
Fresh beef, calories per 

pound, 16 
Fresh lamb, calories per 

pound, 17 
Fresh mutton, calories per 

pound, 18 
Fresh pork, calories per pound, 

19 
Fresh veal, calories per pound, 

17 
Freshening vegetables, 67 
Fried tomatoes, 117 
Fritters, veal, 152 
Frosting, boiled, 173 
Frosting, brov/n sugar, 197 
Fruit cake, poor man's, 192 
Fruit cup, 160 
Fruit, macedoine of, 201 
Frying, deep fat, 70 
Frying oysters, 187 
Fuel-producers, 1 
Fundamental basis of nutrition, 

3 
Gelatin, chocolate, 170 
Gems, bran, made with sour 

milk, 128 
German potato salad, 101 



Ginger cream, 155 

Ginger creams, 196 

Ginger punch, 155 

Ginger squash, 156 

Gingerbread, chocolate, 197 

Gingerbread, oatmeal, 191 

Good meat substitute, 182 

Graham muffins, 84 

Graham pudding, 199 

Grape punch, 159 

Griddle cakes, utilizing cold, 153 

Growing fat, 63 

Ham, baked with potatoes, 136 

Ham, scalloped, and potatoes, 
154 

Ham, smoked, 20 

Hamburg with tomato, 151 

Hard-boiled eggs, 40 

Health and diet, 21 

High cost luncheon, balanced 
ration, 24 

Hints for breakfast, 161 

Hints, useful, 66 

Honey, 202 

Hot bread, 89 

How food frauds may be frus- 
trated, 205 

How to make three kinds of 
cake at one time, 192 

How to stew meat, 142 

Iced cocoa, 156 

Iced cocoa, Panama-Pacific Ex- 
position style, 158 

Icings, 183 

Indian pudding, 199 

Jelly, prune, 167 

Jelly roll, 191 

Keeping eggs, 68 

Lamb, breaded, 151 

Lamb, canned, calories per 
pound, 18 

Lamb, cooked, calories per 
pound, 18 

Lamb, fresh, calories per 
pound, 17 



2l6 



INDEX 



Lamb, that leg of, 139 

Larding, 185 

Lemon toast pudding, 200 

Lemonade a la Savarin, 56 

Lemons, to preserve, 70 

Lettuce salad, 101 

Loaf, beef, 143 

Lobster a la Newburg, 93 

Lobster and milk terror, 96 

Lobster bisque, 96 

Lobster, plain, 95 

Low cost luncheon, balanced 
ration, 23 

Luncheon, delicious dish, 145 

Luncheon, high cost, balanced 
ration, 24 

Luncheon, low cost, balanced 
ration, 23 

Macaroni, 123, 124, 125 

Macaroni, spaghetti, and vermi- 
celli, 123 

Macaroni versus meat, 188 

Macedoine of fruit, 201 

Malted and predigested break- 
fast foods, 29 

Maple brown bread, 83 

Mayonnaise dressing, 99 

Mayonnaise fish, 102 

Mayonnaise, quick, 184 

Maple sirup sandwich, 200 

Meals, more one-course, 144 

Meat, broiled, cakes, 150 

Meat, buying in midsummer, 68 

Meat, cold, pies, 146 

Meat, energy value of, 15 

Meat, how to stew, 142 

Meat, macaroni versus, 188 

Meat rolls, 147 

Meat, shall we eat it? 46 

Meat substitute, 182 

Mexican pie, 148 

Milk and eggs, 14 

Milk and lobster terror, 96 

Milk bread. 79 

Milk, composition of, 11 



Milk, use of sour, 126 

Mint punch, 155 

Mock veal loaf with creamed 

peas, 151 
Molasses, soft cookies, 190 
Molded cheese salad, 128 
More one-course meals, 144 
Muffins, breakfast, 85 
Muffins, cream, 84 
Muffins, graham, 84 
Muffins, rice, 85 
Mutton, breast of, boiled, 135 
Mutton, canned, calories per 

pound, 18 
Mutton, cooked, calories per 

pound, 18 
Mutton, fresh, calories per 

pound, 18 
Mutton organs, calories per 

pound, 18 
Nearly half a man's wages goes 

for food, 25 
Nut cakes, 82 
Nut tapioca, 201 
Nutrition, fundamental basis 

of, 3 
Oatmeal bread, 83 
Oatmeal cookies, 193 
Oatmeal gingerbread, 191 
Oil, olive, 54 
Olive oil, 54 
Omelets, 38, 39 
One-course dinner, 135 
Orange pudding, 203 
Origin of tea, 133 
Oysters, frying, 187 
Parker House rolls, 80 
Peach bread pudding, 202 
Pepper cups, 122 
Peppers, stuffed, 121 
Peppers, sweet, 120 
Pickled beef, calories per 

pound, 17 
Pie, apple, with cheese, 201 
Pie, beef, 138 



INDEX 



217 



Pie, chocolate, 169 

Pie crust, rice, 195 

Pie, Mexican, 148 

Pie, prune cheese, 164 

Pie, Shepherd's, 153 

Pies, cold meat, 146 

Plain cookies, 195 

Plain lobster, 95 

Plain stewed prunes, 165 

Poor man's fruit cake, 192 

Pork chops, Portugese method, 
150 

Pork, fresh, calories per 
pound, 19 

Pork, why serve apple sauce 
with, 147 

Potato salad, 144 

Potatoes, 92 

Potatoes, baked, 107 

Potatoes, boiled, 106 

Potatoes, word about, 104 

Predigested and malted break- 
fast foods, 29 

Preservation of flour, 70 

Preserving lemons, 70 

Prevention of waste, 59 

Proper proportion of food, 7 

Proper way to boil cabbage, 111 

Prune brown bread, 166 

Prune, cake, San Jose, 165 

Prune cheese pie, 164 

Prune jelly, 167 

Prune pudding, 167, 199 

Prune sherbert, 166 

Prune whip, 168 

Prunes, 164 

Prunes, plain stewed, 165 

Prunes, stuffed, 165 

Pudding, delicious graham, 199 

Pudding, English cheese, 140 

Pudding, Indian, 199 

Pudding, lemon toast, 200 

Pudding, orange, 203 

Pudding, peach bread, 202 

Pudding, prune, 167, 199 



Pudding, vanilla snow, 203 

Punch, ginger, 155 

Punch, grape, 159 

Punch, mint, 155 

Punch, tea, 160 

Quick mayonnaise, 184 

Raisin bread, 81 

Raw eggs, 36 

Raw potato yeast, 75 

Rice and cabbage, 113 

Rice muffins, 85 

Rice pie crust, 195 

Rolled skirt steak in casserole, 

138 
Rolled steak, 148 
Rolls, meat, 147 
Rolls, Parker House, 80 
Rolls, tea, 82 
Rye bread, 83 
Salad, cabbage, 101 
Salad, egg, 102 
Salad, German potato, 101 
Salad, lettuce, 101 
Salad, molded cheese, 128 
Salad, potato, 144 
Salads, 98 

San Jose prune cake, 165 
Sand tarts, 194 
Sandwich, maple sirup, 200 
Sandwiches, chocolate, 171 
Satisfying drinks, 155 
Sauce, caper, 136 
Scalloped ham and potatoes, 154 
Scalloped tomatoes, 118 
Scones, Scotch, 84 
Scotch scones, 84 
Scotch shortbread, 85 
Shall we eat meat? 46 
Shepherd's pie, 153 
Sherbert, prune, 166 
Shin of beef, stewed, 135 
Shortbread, Scotch, 85 
Sirup, sugar, 159 
Skill in the preparation of 

food, 178 



2l8 



INDEX 



Smoked ham, 20 

Snickerdoodles, 191 

Snow pudding, vanilla, 203 

Soft molasses cookies, 190 

Soft-boiled eggs, 39 

Something about breads, 81 

Souffle, coffee, 203 

Sour milk, bran gems made 
with, 128 

Sour milk, use of, 126 

Southern beef, 143 

Spaghetti, 124 

Spaghetti, macaroni and vermi- 
celli, 123 

Spinach cooked with water, 109 

Spinach, word about, 108 

Sponge cake, chocolate, 198 

Sponge cake, cocoa, 172 

Steak, rolled, 148 

Steak, rolled skirt, in casserole, 
138 

Steak, word about broiling, 149 

Stew, beef, 143, 144 

Stewed prunes, 165 

Stuffed peppers, 121 

Stuffed prunes, 165 

Stuffing for baked fish, 95 

Substitute for coffee, 32 

Substitute for meat, 182 

Sugar sirup, 159 

Sweet peppers, 120 

Sweethearts, 167 

Tapioca, nut, 201 

Tarts, chocolate, 172 

Tarts, sand, 194 

Tea, 132 

Tea, origin of, 133 

Tea punch, 160 

Tea rolls, 82 

Tested recipes for cake, 190 

That leg of lamb, 139 

Thirst-quenchers, 155 

Tissue-builders, 1 

Toast, cheese, 154 



Tomatoes, baked, 118 

Tomatoes, broiled, 117 

Tomatoes, fried, 117 

Tomatoes, scalloped, 118 

Tomatoes, word about, 115 

Unsafe eggs, 41 

Use of sour milk, 126 

Useful hints, 66 

Utilizing cold griddle cakes, 153 

Vagaries, 56 

Vanilla snow pudding, 203 

Veal, creamed, in pastry horns, 

153 
Veal, fresh, calories per 

pound, 17 
Veal fritters, 152 
Veal, mock, loaf with creamed 

peas, 151 
Veal organs, calories per 

pound, 17 
Vegetables, preparing, 113 
Vegetables, to freshen, 67 
Vermicelli, macaroni and 

spaghetti, 123 
Waste, easy ways to prevent, 59 
Waste in preparing vegetables, 

113 
Water bread, 78 
What doctors do not know, 51 
When eggs are unsafe, 41 
Whole eggs, Z7 
Why folks grow fat, 63 
Why serve apple sauce with 

pork? 147 
Word about broiling steak, 149 
Word about cabbage, 110 
Word about chocolate, 169 
Word about cooking, 33 
Word about potatoes, 104 
Word about spinach, 108 
Word about tomatoes, 115 
Yeast, 74 
Yeast, raw potato, 75 



